Jaguar’s new electric four door GT promises more than 1,000 bhp
Jaguar is trying to argue that a radical electric reinvention does not have to mean wiping its own memory. At the start of development for its new electric luxury four door GT, the company sent engineers back to the wheel of old legends, including the E Type, XJS and XJ Coupé. Sometimes, to work out the future, you first have to drive through the past again. The car is due to make its public debut this September.
Jaguar says the brief for the new electric GT was simple in theory and awkward in practice. The car had to be fast, refined and comfortable, without one quality smothering the others. To get there, the company ran an internal programme in 2023 that put engineers through the XK120, E Type, XJ Coupé V12, XJS and XJ Series I. According to Jaguar, that exercise distilled the traits it now wants to reclaim as its DNA, performance tempered by restraint, and the sense of dignity that belongs in a true long distance GT.
The visual pull follows a familiar line, though not a cheap one. There is a long bonnet, a low roofline and an obvious determination to avoid the proportions of the generic modern electric car. Jaguar wants this new GT to look like a Jaguar, not like another expensive aerodynamic appliance. The brand already hinted at that new design language with the Type 00 concept, revealed to the public in December 2024.
On the technical side, Jaguar is promising a lot. The new GT is set to offer more than 1,000 bhp, three electric motors, all wheel drive, intelligent torque distribution, air suspension and active twin valve dampers. In February, the company said the car was being tested with 150 prototypes and described the programme as the most extensive development effort in Jaguar’s history. Which is exactly the sort of thing a luxury electric GT in 2026 is supposed to say about itself. For now, though, it is still the manufacturer making the case, not the finished car delivering the proof.
Even so, the first independent impressions are not devoid of hope. Autocar described the prototype tested in Sweden as a low slung four door GT more than 5.2 metres long, with balance, steering feel and suspension control that still came across as unmistakably Jaguar, even if the brand’s new image is currently working rather harder for attention than the car itself.
