RAY MASSEY: Jaguar in the last chance saloon with an ‘amazing’ new electric car

Legend has it that cats have nine lives. Well, the British car company Jaguar, whose roots date back to 1922, may now be risking its ninth and final life in an all-or-nothing bet for its existence. Many experienced motor industry observers believe so.

That’s because, in just a few weeks, Jaguar will unveil what it bills as a “radical” and “stunning” new electric car: a bold, “lush” and sporty four-door GT grand tourer.

It’s one of three new electric vehicle models that the jumping cat company is betting its entire future on as a more sophisticated, all-electric brand, with prices starting at just under £100,000, or twice as much as the average Jaguar current, up to £120,000.

It will be followed by a stylish two-door fastback coupe model and a large SUV to be built in Solihull. The unveiling of the four-door GT as a “concept” in December will not take place in the UK, but at a glitzy, influencer-filled show in Miami. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) denies any slight to Britain but maintains the United States is an important market.

Miami is also considered modern, especially for the Tik-Tok and YouTube generation.

David Beckham (co-owner of American soccer team Inter Miami) and his wife Victoria (who helped create a special edition Range Rover Evoque, so she already has links to JLR) just spent £60 million on a 9-bedroom mega-mansion in Miami. .

So launching the new electric Jaguar at Art Basel Miami Beach Art Week in early December is clearly a more glamorous option than wintry Britain.

In recent months, Jaguar bosses have shown tantalizing details and images of their plans. This tedious drip-feeding will continue until the first car, possibly Jaguar’s last saloon, is finally unveiled.

We learn that the “radical” GT sports car will be the most powerful Jaguar ever and will look “carved” from a single square slab, with a bold, flat front grille, very slim headlights and taillights and a range of 435 miles. . It will be minimalist, clean, simplified and digital with few, if any, buttons and “a copy of nothing.”

The names of the new models will see “winks to our past but a lot of vision for the future.”

So how about names based on Jaguar’s classic XK sports cars, but with added letters like XKA, B, C, D or E?

Or maybe numbers: XK1, 2 and 3? Also expect new ‘reimagined’ Jaguar ‘jumping cat’ and ‘snarler’ badges and brand identity.

All current Jaguar models are being phased out and there will be a long gap or “reset period” until the new electric Jaguar is launched in 2026.

There have been victims along the way. Jaguar was late to invest in diesel engines. The £1m 200mph Jaguar C-X75 two-seat hybrid electric supercar program was axed in 2012 for cost reasons, although the car appeared in the 2015 James Bond film Specter.

A planned all-electric flagship

If the latest strategy fails, one option for JLR – owned by the Indian conglomerate Tata – could be to sell the legendary British Jaguar division to China. Then those Chinese cats will have the cream.