'Spirit of Jaguar' evoked for crucial new GT
How to make a very modern EV feel just like a Jag? Drink the heritage kool-aid, apparently...
For car manufacturers, heritage can often feel like two parts blessing, one part curse. You want to be inspired by it, not beholden to it, and that’s a very tricky compromise. But it’s more important now than ever before, when Chinese carmakers can match or surpass the battery-powered tech offered by legacy brands. The role of the past in the present is more prominent than ever.
Which is why the Jaguar Type 00 caused such a furore. Nobody would have been too fussed if BYD had shown such a car, but because it didn’t look like a conventional Jaguar - nor sound like one, of course - there was uproar. Factor in the pig's ear that JLR made of the messaging at the time, and people could be forgiven for forgetting that Jaguar had done a decent job of defying expectations in the past: look how different an XJ-S was to an E-Type, for example, or even the modernisation achieved by the XF. Some complained back then, too; this isn’t a new phenomenon - even if the response was turbocharged this time around by a long-running resistance to EVs in general.
Anyway, partly in response to all the brouhaha, Jaguar has chosen now to point out that in fact it did not throw out the heritage baby with the bath water. Indeed, the ‘Spirit of Jaguar’ is claimed to have been an integral part of the development programme for the new model, to help ‘ensure the brand’s new luxury four-door GT drives like a true Jaguar.’ Specifically, as its engineers have alluded to previously, this has meant driving lots of classics, including an XJS, XJ Coupe, XK120 and, of course an E-Type, all to ‘appreciate the dynamic essence of what makes a true Jaguar.’
Again, this is identified as another tricky balancing act, because most people tend to think that they’d love a new car to drive like an old car. Only to be rudely reminded that a lot of classic cars, in their standard form, are crap. Naturally, the cars used by Jaguar’s development team will have been significantly above average examples, though surely it’s the idea of an old Jag that appeals more than the actual reality. Nevertheless, a car that glides, flows and steers like a great old Jaguar would be warmly welcomed. Characteristics we've already appreciated firsthand...
So what, according to the team, was learnt about the Spirit of Jaguar in driving the old ones? Some of it is the obvious stuff - an E-Type demonstrated ‘you should never arrive unnoticed in a Jaguar’, an XK120 was useful to show that ‘the new GT must provide a cosseting cabin that shrinks around the driver’ - but there’s some interesting insight also. Not so long ago, it would be hard to imagine an XJS ever being mentioned in the development of a new Jaguar, but apparently now its ability to cover big distances while leaving drivers ‘refreshed and energised’ is exactly the quality Jaguar hoped to instil in its new EV. That really is a last-of-the-line XJS on a P-plate, too - told you they had good ones…
But perhaps the most revealing discovery from its evaluation was the role of the XJC V12. According to Jag, the driving feel of the new GT is ‘most inspired’ by the old two-door, drawing attention to a V12 that ‘always has power in reserve’ and a chassis that ‘cossets like a luxury saloon.’ And a modern reinvention of a much-loved, very rare classic Jaguar sounds very appealing. With more than 1,000hp from a tri-motor setup and air suspension with twin-valve active dampers, command of an outside lane should not be in doubt. The more difficult challenge, of course, will be channelling the intangible feel of the old car, that sense of occasion and old school opulence, away from test tracks or proving grounds.
Matt Becker, JLR’s Vehicle Engineering Director, said: “At the outset we took the unusual step of spending time behind the wheel of great models from our past – to get under the skin of what truly makes a Jaguar. At its best, Jaguar has always delivered two characters – performance and comfort – in perfect harmony and our new luxury GT is no different.
“It embodies everything the brand stands for. Jaguar’s founder, Sir William Lyons, used to say that ‘driving should be a joy not a chore’." If that sounds less like copy nothing and a lot more like credit everything that customers previously liked, then you're not far wrong. But then again, if Jaguar succeeds in combining its age-old approach to performance and comfort with a long bonneted, low-roofed EV that truly looks like nothing else, it may very well have the makings of a very special GT. Of course, whether or not it's precisely the very special GT to turn everyone's frown upside down - and relaunch a 90-year-old brand to boot - is still very much in the balance. September will tell the tale.
But then so is the Rolls Royce Spectre which I guess is the sort of market being targeted, albeit for less wealthy customers.
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