By now, I suspect that everyone has exhausted their supplies of rich, creamery vitriol when it comes to the Jaguar 00, the most controversial new Jaguar since, well, I guess since the company changed their name from Swallow Sidecars back in 1945. Now that everyone has accepted the fact that, oh damn, they’re serious, there are finally some pre-production cars getting into journalists’ cold hands, and we’re finally learning some more details about this polarizing machine. There are some changes we expected, like how it’s now a four-door GT car instead of a two-door, but there’s at least one big shocking reveal, for me at least: despite that massive hood, this thing seems to have no frunk.
I know storage under the bonnet isn’t exactly a Jaguar trademark by any means – traditionally, that’s where they kept glorious V12 engines and where mechanics spent a lot of expensive hours. But in an electric car like the Jaguar 00, I think it’s not unreasonable to expect at least a token attempt at a front trunk! The packaging of an EV drivetrain is different enough from a combustion car that there should always be some volume of space up there that can be reserved for the owner’s use. I mean, some companies, like Audi, have had EVs with absurdly tiny frunks, but I respect the effort. It’s a matter of principle, a carmaker respecting their buyers. Some carmakers get it, some don’t.
I think Jag should get it for the 00, in part at least because of the car’s wild proportions; the hood on the Jag 00 is absurdly long. In fact, the distance between the front axle and the driver’s footwell is a prairie-like stretch that is nearly three feet long. That’s basically a meter, or yard!
I got the measurement from this Studio5054 Magazine tweet, who was invited to drive the new Jaguar, and was given that measurement by Jaguar. The tweet also notes that this new Jag has no storage under the front hood, and only a tiny cargo area at the rear, big enough for, as the tweet says “a pair of overnight bags.”
A drive of the Jag in Sweden. That's one weirdly proportioned car. Is the boot really that small? Sounds like an XJ and an XK120 merged. pic.twitter.com/CDLgfrk8zc
— Studio5054 (@5054magazine) February 2, 2026
What the hell? How is this possible? On a car this huge, one designed to carry four fully-grown humans! Jaguar is shooting for a range of well over 450 miles per charge, and the fact that this is said to be a four-door GT car – not a sports car or a city car or a track car or whatever, but a GT car – that implies to me that this should be a road trip car. That’s what a Grand Touring car is all about – going fast, for long distances, with more comfort and room than a more focused sports car. Think something like the Jaguar XJ, a car that (among others) is referenced in this review, which, like all of this first batch of pre-production reviews, takes place on a frozen lake in Sweden:
It seems that about 150 of these pre-production cars have been built; while they’re still disguised and car software and other details are yet to be finalized, these reviewers are stating that the main basic hardware of the car is as the production version will be. Which suggests to me that if there’s no frunk now, there’s unlikely to be one upon the car’s release.
I can’t speak to the driving dynamics of this 1000 horsepower beast, but I’m sure it was fun to whip around in all that ice and snow, even if that tells us next to nothing about how these things will actually be used in reality by their owners, a group of people who I think are not super likely to take their likely $200,000+ cars out on frozen lakes, whipping shitties.
But what I can see is the packaging, and I can see that a lot of compromises seem to have been made in the service of styling and drama. And that’s fine! Both are excellent reasons to make compromises, especially for a car like a Jag. But they are compromises.
I think everything we see stems from one fundamental decision, which is that Jaguar wanted this car to be long and low. Modern EVs tend to be built on skateboard-type platforms with their batteries integrated into the floor, which leaves a lot of usable room on top, but also necessitates a somewhat tall car, because you’re sitting on the battery. When your design goal looks like this:
… there just isn’t any room to put the battery below, so all of that battery volume has to go somewhere. In the case of the Jag 00, it seems like it’s been divided between the front and rear of the car, which you’d have to do to keep a nice low floor. I suspect a lot of battery may be shoved into a massive central tunnel, like the method used on the Fisker Karma/Karma Revero, and pictures of the preproduction interior seem to support this:
My guess is that the battery is in the car in a sort of barbell-like setup, with big blocks at the front and rear, linked by a long central battery spine:
I’m guessing, of course, but if they actually do have a 50:50 weight distribution, I’m really not sure how else they’d pull it off? As a result, I wouldn’t be surprised to find the interior is pretty cramped, again like the Fisker Karma, which, if you’ll recall, was classified as a subcompact by the EPA because it had an interior volume of less than 100 cubic feet, despite the car being way bigger than, say, a Mitsubishi Mirage.
I suspect the Jaguar 00 may end up in a similar position, as a sort of reverse Tardis: huge on the outside, small on the inside. Take a look at the rear door and its opening from the Autocar video:
From what I can see in these videos, the driver’s hip is about at the lower part of the B-pillar, and the rear door and opening looks pretty cramped. The look of the car is very important, no question, and I do appreciate how low it is – but what will this thing be like to live with? I need to get inside one before I can really judge, of course, but so far it looks cramped in there. And without a rear window, we may be getting into an in-car experience that gives a spelunking-like experience.
The concept car version of the Jaguar 00 had these odd little compartments on the sides of the hood, and I can’t recall exactly what they were for. Charging cables? Some sort of small, specialized luggage? Whatever it is, this seems to be gone on the pre-production car.
It’s just so much car, especially so much hood area, and it’s hard not to be disappointed that none of that is available for use by the driver or passengers. We’ve imagined the joys of a truely hugely frunk’d car here before, and it is a glorious idea. But that doesn’t seem to be what we’re getting from Jag. It looks like we’re getting a huge, low slab of battery wrapped in a car, with a little bit of room inside to cram into. I appreciate the drama of the thing, so I’m going to reserve final judgment until I can spend some time with one in person.
I’m still going to be disappointed if it doesn’t have any sort of trunk, though. Even a hilariously small token effort that could only hold, say, a Mounds bar and a wristwatch would be enough for me! Just something to suggest that they tried. It’s not the production one yet, so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens.
Top graphic image: YouTube
WTF is that rear door cut out?!?!?!?
They looked at the previous Subaru Outback and said “Those rear doors are kind of inconvenient… Surely we can do better than that!”, and the people at the design office misunderstood the assignment.
When they planned on building a modern successor to the Mark IV we never imagined it would be a LINCOLN Mark IV.
Ladies and gentlemen, introducing the Jaguar Lincolnshire!
I’ve worked with a lot of JLR and ex-JLR managers.
This will not be the only seemingly simple thing that will disappoint on this car.
I bet the guy who was in charge of the frunk is telling everyone how far under the cost and weight target he is.
I did the frunk for L392 (sister car to the X391 Jaguar XJ that was cancelled). The fights I had over millimetres with engineers who could literally not give less of a shit about the customer experience, were ridiculous. Also their idea for aero sealing the frunk area at the base of the screen was a 2” wide strip of foam, held on with tape.
On a six figure EV.
“Proper bum fight” was a description used for JLR design meetings.
That lack of pride in the end product is just baffling to me.
“That’ll do”
Darn, I was hoping there’d at least be space for a wine cellar or, maybe, a kennel under that hood. But no, just barely room for a pair of airline carry-ons in back. Combine that with all the aesthetic charm of an uncarved Pinewood Derby car and this Jag is only fit to park in front of an obscenely large blockhouse of a ballroom in, say, Washington DC.
Jaguar is chasing the wrong B-car. Not Bentley.
Buick, they need to reinvent themselves along the lines of Buick. Only just slightly upmarket, go for volume, and they could’ve done it with their existing lineup through the magic of price cuts (and, if necessary, decontenting.)
They tried for 2 decades and failed
A standard for the new Malaise Era—bloated styling, overweight, giant footprint with ridiculously poor use of space, and likely not very fun to drive. At least it’s not baby turd brown, Exorcist vomit green, or infection yellow.
Nope, it’s oops-we-cleared-the-primer gray, German Leasing Silver or Did-I-Ever-Tell-You-Kids-I-Used-To-Be-Cool black.
Or British Winter Thighs White
Yeah but wait till you see the sneak peak commericial they’re saving for right before the Big Game.
I assume it’s different than the ’80s-like introduction rebrand campaign? Certainly wouldn’t be the ideal demographic for retro androgyny repackaged as new and shocking to the perpetually offended.
Don’t forget rust orange, dried blood red, and melancholy blue.
What happened in the ’70s? We went from a surplus of great colors to the worst palette anyone could compile. My uncle told me he had a car that I called his poop car when I was 2 because that’s the color it was.
Lack of storage space aside, now that the production car seems to be a tad more normal looking, why did Jag still decide to not install a rear window?
Sorry, that’s stupid.
It’s like that’s the one “styling element” they could afford to keep. It’s not a (new) Jag if it’s got a rear window.
And it’s not even original. Polestar beat them to it with that stupid detail.
Went along with my buddy to test drive an iX – you literally cannot open the front hood. The BMW roundel flips down to fill up washer fluid, otherwise hood is service tech accessible only.
It’s also a one-olive or grape trunk.
Seriously though can you imagine “owning” a vehicle that you aren’t allowed to open the hood?
I’d feel hoodwinked.
That’s a second owner problem after the lease is up, of course
Reminds me of the time Volvo introduced a concept car designed to appeal to women…it either didn’t have a hood, or it was sealed shut.
A car this big, and this expensive, with this much wasted space is delightfully, devilishly, upper class. And that makes me chuckle. This really is a supervillain car.
Indeed. In that sense, maybe this really is carrying on the Jag tradition after all? The E-Type esp was a sorta louche playboy car, suitable for the heir who’s drunk all the time and packing it full of birds, not his upright, Rolls-driving parents or sporting uncle in his Bentley.
Yup. It’s status signaling in a very specific way: I do not have to care about cargo room, as I have Staff to manage my logistics.
“…I suspect that everyone has exhausted their supplies of rich, creamery vitriol…”
Nope. I hate it more now than I did before. It’s just so damn ugly.
My vitriol is more of a peppery, vinegar based vitriol. To each their own.
I prefer more of a Caesar dressing.
Et tu, Spike?
My vitriol has a dash of Carolina Reaper hot sauce in it.
What’s the point of a Malibu Barbie Batmobile if there’s no room for the beach towels and volleyballs?
Ow, we want the frunk
Give up the frunk
Ow, we need the frunk
We gotta have that frunk
There’s a whole lot of rhythm going round
You’ve got a real type of thing going down
Cool, a pack of HV battery in the crumble zone. What could go wrong, really.
https://tenor.com/view/beavis-fire-gif-2325730828216458890
I kind of understand the lack of a frunk if there’s too much stuff at the front (radiators and their airflow paths) which would mean the frunk area is set too far back to be easily accessible (too much bending over while also getting your pants dirty). The whole process might be too undignified to for a GT owner!
Which is why you need a forward hinged hood, like a real Jag should have.
As others have stated:
“(Jaguar) split the battery pack into five separate stacks–a 19 kWh pack near the front of the cabin and four 25 kWh stacks further back. This way, the footwells can be placed in the gaps, and the driver’s seating height is almost identical to the F-Type two-seater… with three electric motors being offered as standard–two at the rear and one at the front”
“There’s also no front trunk and no rear window…”
https://insideevs.com/news/786135/jaguar-electric-sedan-battery-range/
So that would explain the 50/50 weight distribution – and given the size of the wheels, I’d bet there’s a full-size spare in there somewhere taking up valuable storage space.
However a GT with long range, but minimal luggage space is just plain idiotic.
I had anticipated something like a clamshell bonnet opening to an enormous frunk. I thought this only because of how glorious the XKE bonnet is. Sure the show car left something to be desired, and the production sedan would underwhelm, but a clamshell frunk might have balanced it all out. I waste time thinking about stuff like this.
If this is the best that Jag-yoo-arrr (said in my best Jeremy Clarkson voice) can do, then I’m afraid the brand doesn’t have much of a solid future ahead of it.
This seems kind of insane. The C8 corvette had a design requirement of 2 golf bags in the trunk. My friend was excited to show me the packing instructions with his M5 on how to fit 4 golf bags in the trunk.
A GT that can’t fit a golf bag? Yikes.
I reject the golf bag as a unit of useful luggage volume.
But even my stupid Elise could carry a week’s worth of food and clothes for each passenger.
Front to back, inside out, and inside-out-front-to-back.
So, two pairs of boxers is a week?
You’ve clearly never driven an S1 Elise. It entails much more soiling of boxers than you’d imagine.
A girl in college claimed that she would fit in a golf bag. Never had the opportunity to see that demonstrated.
I’m more surprised that your drawing has the batteries in front of what would typically be the firewall where a crash structure is placed. I can’t imagine the packaging nightmare up there with safety structure, motors, battery and then finally occupants.
That’s where the engine goes once they realize no one is buying them.
Signed, forlorn Jaguar owner.
On a scale of 1-10, I give this 00. It lives up to it’s name.
If you’re spending this kind of money: you have a second home already furnished with clothing.
What are you carrying things in your car for?
Where do they expect me to store my polo mallets?
The stablehand will get that for you, sir.
Did you want your regular horse, and may I offer you a gin and tonic whilst you wait?
And the elephants!
At least the E-Type wasn’t controversial- oh, wait.
I love that my EV has a frunk. I rarely open it but that’s where I keep my tool bag, plug kit and pump since it doesn’t have a spare, and charging cables.