Jaguar has been teasing the Type 01 in bite-size pieces, presumably to lessen the disappointment it unwittingly delivered with its new-found branding. After months of concept-car mystique under varying camouflage, the brand has pulled back the curtain on the interior of its first production model under the new design language. Thankfully, the cabin is exactly as theatrical as you’d hope.
The headline act is a central spine that runs the entire length of the car, splitting the cabin into four distinct zones. Jaguar’s chief interior designer Thomas Holden calls it an architectural statement, and to be fair, that’s pretty apt. Where most luxury interiors lean on horizontal lines that stretch dash to door, the Type 01 goes long instead of wide, which is a genuinely odd choice until you remember Jaguar’s current lineup.
Look at the F-Pace, the F-Type, and the XF sold in the US, and you’ll notice they all share a fondness for clean, unbroken horizontal strokes across the dashboard. It’s a quiet family trait that nobody really talks about. The Type 01 takes that same instinct and stretches it to its absolute limit, then adds a spine running the other way just to keep things interesting.
This interior doesn’t look like a production cabin so much as it looks like a concept car that wandered onto the assembly line by mistake. Which is oddly fitting, because the Type 01’s exterior has had people saying the exact same thing since it first broke cover. If Jaguar is consistent about anything these days, it’s refusing to water down a concept before it reaches customers, so there’s a real chance the finished car looks almost exactly like this.
Honestly? It works. Given how sculptural and architectural the exterior already is, an interior that plays it safe would have felt like a betrayal. Instead you get travertine-inspired surfaces, brass-finish trim running along the doors, and a slim dashboard that visually melts into the bonnet outside. It’s not the wood-and-leather-and-chrome excess older Jaguars used to drown you in. There’s a minimalist restraint here, the kind more and more luxury brands seem to be gravitating towards nowadays.
There’s a hidden rear-view display, concealed storage, and what Jaguar describes as unexpected moments of color, which we’re frankly stumped about, considering there’s none visible. Maybe it’s something you notice when you see the Type 01 in person. Which we will, soon enough. The Type 01 will be revealed in October, with a prototype wearing a new wrap showing up at Pebble Beach this week. Until then, this cabin gives us plenty to chew on.