'Great design should polarise': Jaguar boss Rawdon Glover answers our questions about its make-or-break new EV

Jaguar finally revealed its eagerly anticipated – and highly controversial – Type 01 electric car, this week.Costing from around £120,000 and produced in much smaller volumes than its previous mass-market Jaguars, its arrival marks a reincarnation of the 90-year-old brand.Jaguar is looking to reposition itself in the market to appeal to a younger, urban and highly affluent audience.The new EV boasts monumental proportions, measuring in at a whopping 5.2m in length – about the same as a long-wheel-base Range Rover.Built on Jaguar's bespoke Jaguar Electric Architecture platform, it uses a 118kWh battery and three electric motors to produce 1,015 horsepower. You can read our full in-depth report on the new Jaguar Type 01 here.The Daily Mail and This is Money sat down with managing director Rawdon Glover to ask the big questions about the new car, the company's daring strategy and whether the brand's future balances on the success of its new flagship EV.He described it as 'probably one of the most important cars in Jaguar's history' and one of the most eagerly awaited models any brand has brought to market in years. Ahead of Type 01's debut in New York this week, the Daily Mail and This is Money sat down with managing director Rawdon Glover to discuss the new car and Jaguar's new strategyWhy the need for a wholesale change for Jaguar?Rawdon Glover: It's the question I'm asked most often: why change everything, literally everything, from your architecture to your design language, even down to the capitalised 'A' in your wordmark?Well, for us, Jaguar was absolutely at a crossroads.In 2021, we realised we needed to make some really big decisions on where we went next with the brand.Our client base was shrinking and ageing. That’s not a great combination.And if you look at the commercial performance of the Jaguar brand, all of those things pointed us in one direction.I've been in and around brands pretty much all of my working life, and most of the time, brand management is about small iterative changes to carefully curate a brand.But there are times when you have to do something much bigger. You have to do something much bolder and take a very big step forward.When we took all of those things into account for Jaguar, it was very clear that it was one of those times, and I think that takes courage. It takes conviction. Jaguar's daring electric rebirth: The British brand unveiled its new Type 01 four-door GT car in New York this week. It will arrive with customers from next year costing from around £120,000How does this vehicle link to Jaguar's 90-year history?RG: When you look back at some of Jaguar’s greatest previous models, when they emerged they looked different to everything else in their competitive context.When the E-Type landed at the Geneva Motor Show in 1961, imagine how futuristic and progressive that would have looked at that time.And then I think about its spiritual successor, the XJS.How tempting must it have been to say: 'The E-Type is one of the most iconic cars ever developed and hugely successful, why don't we just modernise?'Well, that isn't what Jaguar did. There was a willingness to write a new chapter.The XJS started with dramatic proportions and was elongated by its beautiful C-pillar, swooping gracefully to the rear of the vehicle like nothing else. Was there anything else that looked like that? Absolutely not.So that spirit of reinvention, the conviction, the willingness to go again and to continue to re-evolve is absolutely in our DNA. Rawdon Glover presenting the Type 01 in New York on Tuesday evening at the car's official unveiling. In the background is the image of the 1975 Jaguar XJSJaguar Type 01 specs Price: from approx £120kDIMENSIONS Length: 5.2 metresWidth: 2 metres (est)Height: 1.4 metresWeight: 2,700kg (est)Wheels: 23 inch (21 inch option)Boot capacity: 450 litresPERFORMANCEElectric architecture: 850V Battery: 120kWh (118kWh usable)Electric motors: 3 (2 rear, 1 front)Transmission: single-speed autoDrive: four-wheel driveMax power: 1,015hp Max torque: 1,035Nm Acceleration (0-62mph): 3.2 secsTop speed: 155mphTurning circle: 11.5 metres RANGE & CHARGING Official range (WLTP): 450 milesReal-world range: 400 miles Charging capacity: up to 350kWCharging speed: 10-80% in 22 mins (it can add 200 miles of range in 13 mins) You're sticking with EV only. Are you sure that's the right decision?RG: If I go right back to the start, we didn't strategically say: right, we're going to reinvent Jaguar and we're going to do it as all-electric. That wasn't the plan.What we started with is a particular set of proportions. We wanted to have a very distinctive design language. And we wanted to have a certain level of performance and refinement.An electric powertrain was the obvious choice because it was the only one that gave us all of those things. We wouldn't need to make any compromises.We've also done our research. We've talked to a lot of prospective clients who buy £200,000 cars. And the most important thing is always how a car looks and if it gives them an emotional reaction.Does it make them want to look back at it when they walk away from it? On the inside, what does it feel like? Does it feel like a beautiful, curated, positive environment?Among the last things people buying at this price point care about is the powertrain. That’s why we didn't start with electric; we started with all of those other criteria, and we came back to EV.In terms of our research and identifying our future client base, for those people that have the wherewithal to buy cars at this price point, only around 20 per cent, maybe a bit more, will reject something that doesn’t have an internal combustion powertrain in it.That leaves quite a lot of potential clients for us to go after.Are you worried the design is going to be too divisive?RG: As you can imagine, we've researched this quite extensively; we've talked to over 2,500 people across four continents in the last three years.One of the things we do in all our research clinics is ask potential clients to give our cars a score out of ten.Interestingly, we found with Type 01 that we got some ones and twos. But we also received more nines and tens than we ever have before.And that's important to us because great design should polarise.If you design something wanting everybody to like it, you end up with vanilla.For Jaguar to succeed with the reinvention, six or seven out of ten is never going to be right.We've also had about 50,000 people globally put their hands up to be a 'KMI' – a keep me informed. These are individuals who are really interested in what we're doing, want to know more about the car and the journey.Some 78 per cent of those people are new to Jaguar. That gives you an indication.I want to bring as many of our existing client base on this journey as possible, but it's clear we are going to have to conquest a lot of people.Why unveil in New York and not Britain?RG: We think New York is going to be one of the most important markets for us. So it makes sense to unveil there, but we'll do so in a way that feels quintessentially British.It's a car that has a sense of drama, presence, a cinematic quality, so we really felt we should try and make sure that this vehicle is going to arrive in style. New York has an incredible vibrancy and is a city known for creativity and innovation, and is culturally is one of the key centres of the globe. The monumental 5.2-metre-long four-door grand tourer will 'never arrive unnoticed,' Jaguar saysSo, who is going to buy Type 01?RG: They're more likely to be urban. We think they're more likely to be younger. They're interested in design. They will be interested in technology.But the unifying mindset, irrespective of geography or age, is a sense of individuality.The person buying this vehicle will be doing so because they are very, very independently minded, and they want to make a strong statement about themselves.Are you confident they'll be willing to pay six figures for a Jaguar?RG: Our average selling price when we were last selling new cars in the UK was about £60,000 to £65,000. The sort of centre of gravity for us in the future is likely to be around £125,000.So we're doubling the price from where we were previously.For luxury brands, they really don't get out of bed for anything less than £300,000, while the top end of the premium market tops out at about £120,000 to £130,000.That's the white space Jaguar wants to occupy. We feel comfortable this is where Jaguar has performed well historically. We asked Glover if Type 01 is make or break for Jaguar. But he insists success will only be measured once the full portfolio of new cars is availableIs this a make-or-break car for Jaguar’s future?RG: Whether it's one of, if not the most important products that we've unveiled in our 90-year history, who knows? But it's definitely right up there.And we’re only going to succeed by being bold, being confident and having the strength of our conviction.Whatever happens beyond that, in terms of how it's received, how many people buy it and whether they'll like the other products that we develop in this portfolio, who knows?But I genuinely don't think we could have put any more thought and care into the project.Everything about this car has purpose. If you asked our team, could you have tried any harder? I think the answer is no.Ultimately, that's the only question you need to ask yourself. And if you can answer that question, then what will be, will be.How much pressure is there to make Jaguar a success?RG: Tata [Jaguar Land Rover's parent group] have been hugely supportive throughout the entire process.I get that question mark. People ask: 'Were they supportive of the original direction? You’ve now got a new CEO, so what does he think?'But Balaji has been on our board for the last seven years. He’s seen every part of the project.In terms of understanding the strategy, our need to change and the boldness of the designs, Tata has been nothing but encouraging in terms of pushing us to keep going after that vision.And they have a real passion for it to succeed. Jaguar means something; it has an important place in Indian culture and strategy.So more than anything, they really, really want it to succeed. And they've demonstrated that by allowing us to fulfil the vision.Since Balaji became CEO, we've not really changed the strategy as such. He was fully on board.I think that the responsibility for me and my team is to make sure that we are plotting a way forward that makes Jaguar financially viable.If I'm doing that, then I think the shareholder will be satisfied.We're clearly investing in a platform and need to make sure that Jaguar is additive to the enterprise, and that's absolutely front of mind for me.Glover says Type 01's aim is to 'reposition' Jaguar in the market at a higher price pointWhat does success look like for Type 01? Are sales volumes as important as repositioning Jaguar?RG: You won't be surprised that I'm not going to give you any specific sales figures.The purpose of Type 01 is to reposition Jaguar in the market, and that’s the strategic task.Clearly, there will be a volume associated with that which we aspire to sell.What Jaguar is not doing is what we tried to do for the last couple of decades, which is chase volume. We've seen where that gets us from a financial perspective, and it's not been a successful venture.So, chasing value is much more important.If you think about where we are positioning ourselves, we're right at the very, very top of the premium market and there’s quite a long way to go to reach the established luxury players.Once we get our portfolio out there in all the markets, we'll measure our success in tens of thousands of units, not single thousands and not hundreds of thousands.But it will always be about the value of how much variable profit we are able to generate, and being very vigilant in terms of investing in things that are going to give us that return. Jaguar's 2024 rebrand campaign garnered plenty of criticism from the general public and major figures, including US President Donald Trump Glover says he's dedicated a lot of the last 18 months to making sure he better explains how Jaguar wants to retain its heritage while shifting to greener powertrainsDo you think you will change opinion and Jaguar will drop ‘woke’ accusations?RG: Social media is not a very good channel for context. It's binary. It's very simplistic. It's love-hate.If you don't understand how everything links to our heritage, if you don't understand actually why Jaguar is changing, then there’s going to be very strong feelings about it.I've spent a lot of my own personal capital in the last probably 18 months making sure that we tell the story, explain what we're doing, and try to make it as inclusive as we can.But I think the conversation will now turn to the vehicle.I am worldly enough to know that for some people it's perhaps too bold. And that's OK.But we need to make clear that what we're doing is absolutely in the spirit of what Jaguar has done throughout its history. And it's absolutely done in the best interest of the brand.That's where I get very passionate: I don't think there are people out there who better understand the Jaguar brand than the individuals here in this organisation. They are steeped in it.We absolutely understand what Jaguar is about, and I think we are absolutely the best people to return it to its natural habitat.More than anything, I want people to make their own judgment of the car once they've had the opportunity to see Type 01 for themselves.Once they get a sense of its scale, its presence and its proportions, and they begin to see it more, they're going to become more acclimatised to it.Two years ago, we were in a conceptual world and talking about a brand. We're now talking about breaking the mould through a vehicle, which I think is much easier to digest and understand.There's been a real focus on heritage over recent months. Are we going to see the marketing campaign shift away from what we saw two years ago?RG: In terms of the marketing campaign. We've created interest. We've got people's attention.Whether it's journalists, whether it's the world of social media, whether it's lifestyle etc. They're now interested in what Jaguar is doing.So, now is the time to maximize that focus, the eyeballs, to make sure we really talk about the vision for what Jaguar is trying to do. The sense of refusal to compromise and to try to make a car that's absolutely 21st-century Jaguar with all of the technological innovation behind it.So from this point on, I guess the marketing campaign has a few objectives.We want people to be talking about the vehicle, so the campaign needs to cut through. Everything needs to feel distinctive. It needs to feel completely separate from any of the other brands (Range Rover, Discovery and Defender) within our stable.And it absolutely should feel distinctive from any of the other brands that we're competing with.