The Type 01's launch event was attended by celebrities including actor Florence Pugh

Jaguar has revealed its new electric car two years after its controversial rebranding sparked a backlash with the firm accused of going "woke".

The unveiling of the all-electric Type 01 is a gamble for parent company JLR, which has invested billions reinventing Jaguar and is facing mixed reactions over the new car's design and the brand's all-electric strategy.

The car itself is an imposing four-door "Grand Tourer", with a long bonnet that deliberately harks back to Jaguar's emblematic 1960s E-Type.

But it comes at a hefty price tag with a minimum cost of £130,000 in the UK and $130,500 in the US.

The new model's electric motors are potent, producing about 1000 horsepower and allowing it to accelerate from 0-62mph in 3.2 seconds. JLR says it has a range, at "sustained highway speed", of up to 320 miles.

The company describes it as the "most technically advanced, powerful and aerodynamic Jaguar ever engineered".

However, the unveiling of the Type 01 on Tuesday was met with mixed reactions on social media.

"Looks like a Cybertruck and a Bentley Continental had an illegitimate child," Facebook user Ken Katch said, referring to the Tesla pick-up, known for its divisive design.

Craig Kinnersley, who runs a luxury car consultancy, wrote on LinkedIn that the new design was an "unmitigated catastrophe" that looked like a hearse and lacked any "memorable Jaguar flourish".

But car journalist Steve Fowler said the Type 01 looked "incredible" and made him "proud to be British".

"Not everyone will like it - that's fine. Not everyone has to!" he wrote on X.

Alistair Weaver from vehicle sales platform Edmunds said Jaguar deserved some credit for the Type 01's looks, despite it being "polarising".

"If Jaguar designed a car that looked like anything else, it would have had no hope," Weaver told the BBC.

But the firm faces an uphill battle in the US, where EVs are becoming less popular, he added.

This launch was always bound to attract attention, after the company caused waves with the initial unveiling of its new direction.

In 2024 Jaguar released a surreal advert, showing models in a range of bizarre and brightly coloured outfits. There was a new Jaguar logo - but no cars in the ad at all.

Two weeks later, Jaguar's denim-clad design chief Gerry McGovern took to a Miami stage to show off a pair of radical concept cars, in Miami Pink and London Blue colour schemes.

Concept cars are mock-ups built to demonstrate an idea, rather than to work when on the road.

Acknowledging that they might prove controversial he quipped: "Jaguar has no desire to be loved by everybody".

The event, heralding Jaguar's future as a luxury all-electric marque, triggered a furious backlash in the press and on social media.

Critics claimed JLR was betraying its heritage in favour of going "woke". Even the colour chosen for the launch was derided as "Barbie pink", as culture wars erupted around it.

The reception appeared to catch JLR by surprise. The reinvention of Jaguar as a luxury electric brand was part of a wide-ranging strategy set out by the company in early 2023, in which it pledged to invest £15bn in new models and technologies.

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'Trust and reserve judgement' on rebrand, says Jaguar

At the time, Jaguar itself was struggling. The badge, which was once an intrinsic part of Swinging Sixties British cool, had lost its lustre. Where in the past it had supplied E-Types to Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen, it now struggled to sell upmarket saloons and SUVs to middle-ranking corporate executives, who generally preferred Audis and BMWs.

"Jaguar's core demographic, despite the uproar, gave up on the brand years ago, so they effectively had nothing to lose," said Matthias Schmidt of Schmidt Automotive Research.

The Type 01's design has been met with mixed reactions from car enthusiasts

JLR wound down production of its old Jaguar models in 2024 and 2025. The "woke" row, while it may have made life briefly uncomfortable for the company's leadership, did at least keep the brand in the public consciousness.

The GT is expected to be the first of three new electric designs from Jaguar.

Since then JLR has parted ways with the agency behind the rebranding campaign, and the company also has a new chief executive.

Jaguar had supplied E-Types to stars like Brigitte Bardot and Steve McQueen

But the future of Jaguar itself still hangs in the balance.

"I think it really is a last throw of the dice," says journalist Steve Fowler. "JLR has struggled to make serious money with Jaguar in the past, and that's what it's all about."

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