People either love or hate the new Jaguar Type 01, according to company boss Rawdon Glover – and the electric GT’s customer clinic scores reveal just how sharply it divides opinion.

Jaguar has never shied away from making headlines, but arguably nothing in its history has sparked as much global conversation as its controversial reinvention. 

A new identity, the pink Type 00 concept car and a radical change of direction put the British brand at the centre of a debate that stretched far beyond the motoring world.

Now comes the car that has to turn all that attention into something more – the Type 01. Unveiled today at a glitzy launch in New York, where it made a dramatic entrance from the streets of New York into Annie Leibovitz’s former photography studio in Chelsea, it’s an all-electric luxury four-door GT and the first production car of Jaguar’s new era.

Jaguar boss Rawdon Glover knows that the Type 01 divides opinion. At secret briefings of the car at the company’s HQ in Gaydon last month, he told me that Type 01 seemed to be a car people either loved or hated. 

He explained it had attracted more top scores – and more bottom scores – than Jaguar had ever seen before in its customer clinics. For him, that’s exactly the point: better to create a car some people absolutely love than one everybody thinks is merely OK.

After all, Jaguar doesn’t need everyone to love this car. Just those with enough money to buy one. 

At an expected starting price of £120,000, with personalisation and special editions adding to the bill, Jaguar is now pitching itself into a luxury world alongside rivals like Bentley. 

Having seen the finished car, I don’t think that ambition is misplaced, although proving it will take more than a spectacular reveal – the sales need to follow.

On that subject, Rawdon told me that around 50,000 people globally have registered interest, and 80% of those who signed up “with data” are new to Jaguar, with interest coming from all around the world.

And there’s plenty for those potential customers to consider. Beneath the dramatic bodywork are three electric motors delivering more than 1,000hp, making the Type 01 the most powerful production Jaguar yet. 

Air suspension and rear-wheel steering are designed to combine the comfort expected of a luxury GT with the agility its size might suggest is impossible. 

We’ve already driven it already and think that Matt Becker, Jaguar’s ride and handling guru has done a superb job, creating a modern day Jaguar that still drives like a Jaguar should.

When it comes to range, Jaguar estimates up to 450 miles on the WLTP cycle from a 118kWh usable NMC battery with an estimated motorway range of 320 miles at a constant 75mph (120kph). If it delivers that in the real world, then the Type 01 is delivering on its GT promise.  

Jaguar says more than 360 patent applications have helped make the Type 01 its most technically advanced car ever, and it sits on Jaguar’s new dedicated electric architecture, known as JEA, developed to deliver the dramatic proportions and driving character the team wanted. 

Its 850V electrical system supports rapid charging at up to 350kW, with Jaguar claiming a 10–80% charge in around 22 minutes. 

The interior is reminiscent of a luxury hotel suite none of us can afford to stay in and it even comes with its own perfume diffuser. 

At the start of its reinvention Jaguar promised its first electric car of the new era would be a ‘Copy of nothing’. On that it has certainly delivered.