Would that make a difference? It is plain to see the styling is definitely marmite, I hate that too. It's apparently a 4 seater GT, I think a 4 door 2+2 would be a rather more honest description. Getting into the back looks like an exercise in contortion, the seating position appears designed for people with unusually short legs and the headroom is seemingly an optional extra. But hey, who needs rear seat comfort when you can have drama? Then there's the boot. Not much room and what little space there is sits so high off the ground that loading heavy luggage looks like a CrossFit exercise. The front luggage compartment is similarly generous - assuming you're packing a sandwich along with a charging cable. This is a car over 5 metres long. What on earth have they done with all that space? It's not as if they had to fit in a monstrous V12 engine and 26-speed transmission, is it? Apparently, the absence of an engine has created a packaging challenge rather than an opportunity. Truly innovative. Then we have the mysterious structural beam running down the middle of the cabin. Is it a styling feature? Or is it there to remind the occupants that, despite the price tag, personal space is very much a premium option? As for the exterior, where to begin? The front end looks as though someone ordered a luxury GT and accidently received a concept for a roller shutter door. And the rear? Cybertruck, anyone? But perhaps the greatest mystery is this, WHERE HAS JAGUAR GONE? Where are the elegance, the flowing curves, the sensual proportions and the understated British sophistication? Where is the visual drama that comes from beautiful design rather than simply making everything look as if it was designed to provoke a reaction? Of course, we are told this is bold, disruptive and the future of the brand. Perhaps it is. But being different is easy. Being different and beautiful is rather harder. Jaguar had, for decades, a reputation for making some of the most elegant cars in the world. Now it seems determined to prove that you can spend over five metres of automotive real estate, dispense with the practicality and still end up with less space and more questions. A bold new direction, certainly. Just a shame the destination appears to be somewhere between a roller-shutter warehouse and a Cybertruck showroom.
