Jaguar is causing controversy again – here’s why

I appear to be in a minority. Again.

Jaguar has revealed the interior of its new Type 01 and, judging by some of the reaction on social media, you’d think it had fitted the thing out with deckchairs and lino.

I posted some pictures and video of the interior and asked what people thought. Plenty hated it – maybe that’s just the type of people who want to have their say on social media, but there were definitely some themes.

The lack of buttons came in for criticism. So did the huge central spine running through the car which one person thought looked like a couple of bits of four by two stuck together! People didn’t like the colours, the steering wheel, the lack of a conventional rear-view mirror and, inevitably, the fact that this is absolutely nothing like the Jaguars people remember. With many people, it would seem that Jaguar can do no right, unless they just recreated the XJS and stuck Ian Ogilvy behind the wheel.

There were some positive voices, too, but the overall reaction confirmed something we already knew: Jaguar’s reinvention is going to be controversial, just as it was when the first ‘new Jaguar’ concept was unveiled.

Well, I like it. In fact, having been lucky enough to sit in the Type 01 and even see the car with its camouflage removed, I like it even more than I thought I would.

There’s an important distinction there. Pictures of car interiors can be deceptive, especially when the design is as unusual as this. Sitting inside it is a completely different experience. You get a much better appreciation of the proportions, the materials, the way the architecture wraps around you and, crucially, what Jaguar is trying to achieve.

And I think Jaguar deserves credit for having the courage to do it. And let’s be honest here, if Jaguar continued to battle away against Audi, BMW and Mercedes, it was always going to be on to a loser – especially with the number of new brands entering that particular premium space.

So, Jaguar has chosen to go somewhere else entirely. Higher prices, much lower volumes and cars that are intended to feel genuinely special rather than simply being alternative choices to the established German premium brands.

That makes the Type 01 interior hugely important because, at the sort of money Jaguar is going to be asking, being good isn’t good enough. It has to be memorable. And this is.

The first thing that strikes you is just how architectural it feels. There’s a strong horizontal theme across the dashboard, while the enormous spine running through the centre separates the cabin into four individual spaces and has brass inlays – it’s certainly not just two planks of wood. And it’s certainly not conventional, but that’s precisely why I like it.

Some people have compared the individual seating areas to business-class airline pods, apparently as a criticism. I’m not sure that’s the insult they think it is. If Jaguar wants to reposition itself as a genuine luxury brand, creating four distinct spaces for four occupants seems a perfectly reasonable place to start.

There’s also a refreshing absence of the screen overload that has infected so many modern cars. We’ve reached the point where fitting another vast rectangle of glass across a dashboard no longer feels particularly futuristic or luxurious. In many cases it just feels predictable.

Jaguar has gone in the opposite direction. Technology is there when you need it, but the cabin has been designed as an interior first and a collection of electronic devices second. I like that enormously.

Yes, there are hardly any conventional buttons, and regular readers will know that I’ve criticised manufacturers for burying frequently used functions in touchscreens. So, I’m reserving judgement on how well Jaguar’s system actually works until I’ve driven the car properly. Beautiful design is one thing; good ergonomics is another. Technology these days includes voice control, so let’s see how well Jaguar has integrated it.

However, I’m not going to condemn it simply because it doesn’t have a row of physical switches. The same goes for the lack of a conventional rear-view mirror. There’s no rear window, so a camera provides the view behind on a slim digital display positioned at the base of the windscreen. We’ve already seen the idea of dispensing with rear glass elsewhere, and I suspect it’s something we’re going to see more of as designers realise they no longer necessarily have to design a car around the same solutions we’ve used for decades.

Again, I’ll tell you whether it works when I drive it, but I can instantly say that I think it’s going to be easier to see and use than putting digital screens where mirrors usually are. Unless I’ve got my reading glasses on, I just can’t see those screens – but I could see the one further forward in the Jaguar.

One of the recurring criticisms I’ve seen is that this isn’t what a Jaguar should be. But what exactly should a Jaguar be in 2026? Should it have walnut veneer because Jaguars once had walnut veneer? Should it have round instruments because Jaguars once had round instruments? Should Jaguar keep looking backwards because some of its greatest cars happen to be among the most beautiful cars ever made? I don’t think so.

The E-Type was extraordinary because it looked forwards, not backwards. The original XJ was modern. Even the much more recent I-Pace was at its best when Jaguar stopped worrying about convention and did something its rivals hadn’t done.

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