Jaguar is betting the entire company on one electric car — and it has no Plan B

Jaguar is about to roll the dice on the most important new model in the company’s history.

The Jaguar 01 is a make-or-break bet on the future of fully-electric motoring and could easily sink the brand if it’s not an instant success.

It’s a complete reinvention of the brand, as the British company bins its history of traditional elegance – wood-and-leather cabins, conservative styling, thirsty combustion engines – to go searching for a new audience and fresh buyers.

Jaguar’s gamble comes at a time of global uncertainty about the future of battery-electric cars, despite the short-term sales surge as a result of the blockage of the Hormuz Straight.

Long-term planning at most brands outside China is shifting into reverse gear, with companies as varied as Porsche and Ford reeling from massive losses on investments and middling sales. Volvo had planned to be all-electric by now but isn’t, and there is still no workable EV alternative to gasoline drive for the pick-up trucks that dominate in Australia.

In Australia, a showroom stampede has taken the percentage of EV sales to a new high and helped BYD pole-vault into second place in April, overtaking Ford on the way.

Globally, there was a six per cent jump in the registration of EV and plug-in hybrid vehicles to 1.6 million, a second consecutive month of growth after uncertainty and shake

According to some of the latest EV research, by a company called Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, worldwide registrations of battery-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles showed significant growth through the first quarter of 2026. But those numbers are strongly powered by the hybrid drive which is also working in Australia – as PHEVs qualify for Federal EV money – as well as various government incentives and the problems in the Middle East.

Digging deeper into the EV improvement in the first quarter, European sales were up by 27 per cent, but China was down by eight per cent at home but continued to improve with its exports.

There is another EV development in the UK, with Duracell – the familiar battery maker – moving into high-speed chargers. It is setting up across Britain and using the family look of its D-cell batteries as a clever marketing ploy.

But there are significant headwinds and these are clear both in Australia and globally.

Subaru Australia has just cut up to $4000 from the showroom stickers for its Solterra and Trailseeker models and Chinese brands are going big on deals for the end of the financial year.

But there is no Plan B at Jaguar, which has pushed all of its chips onto the EV square while the global roulette wheel is still spinning rapidly.

It’s been driven down the EV road partly by the success of its partner company, Land Rover.

When sales of traditional four-door luxury sedans tanked, Jaguar tried to pivot into SUVs but was blocked by Land Rover and Range Rover. Anyone who craved a British soft-roader or family wagon was never going to pick a Jaguar first.

So now it’s on the re-invention road, looking for relevance and a newer – and much younger – buyer group.

That’s why the new top cat has polarising coupe looks and battery driver, and why Jaguar is going on a worldwide promotional tour to try and excite some interest.

The Jaguar 01 – even the name has been chose to emphasise the new start – is pictured in Arctic snow and against the flashy backdrop of Monaco as preview drives in Britain highlight the car’s limo-like ride and sports car performance.

But there is no pricing yet and no official on-sale date for Australia, so the big questions are still waiting to be answered.