Jaguar's Type 01 Interior Breaks Every Rule — Including Cupholders

Jaguar has finally pulled the covers off the interior of its Type 01 electric GT, and true to form, it's not playing it safe. The British brand previewed the cabin ahead of the car's full reveal in October, and the response has been about what you'd expect after the polarizing exterior debut.

"With a confidence-inspiring GT driving position, clean and sophisticated technology and dramatic styling, Type 01 has an interior like no other," said Rawdon Glover, Jaguar's managing director. He also described the car as "unmistakable from every angle," adding that "the interior is no different."

What's actually inside the Type 01

The layout is minimalist and unapologetically unconventional. Here's what Jaguar showed:

• A four-seat cabin split by a "dramatic" central spine that carves the interior into four individual spaces
• A large display directly in front of the driver, a sharp departure from the Jaguars most of us picture
• A small touchscreen placed roughly where cupholders normally live
• A digital ClearSight Rear View Display mounted at the base of the windshield, intended to help the driver keep eyes forward
• A brass-inspired finish on the central spine, doors, and part of the steering wheel, in place of traditional wood trim
• Physical buttons on the steering wheel and door panels

That last point is worth pausing on. After years of automakers burying every function in a touchscreen, Jaguar keeping real buttons on the wheel and doors is a genuinely owner-friendly call. It's the kind of detail EV drivers notice on day 300, not day one.

The cupholder situation

Here's the part that got the most attention: the Type 01 doesn't appear to have any cupholders. Electrek noted the small touchscreen occupies the spot where you'd typically find them.

If that sounds like a small thing, ask anyone who's driven a car with awkward or missing cup storage. It's one of the most common reasons EV owners go shopping for aftermarket interior gear in the first place. Tesla owners have built an entire accessory category around center console inserts, cupholder adapters, and organizer trays, precisely because the factory layout doesn't always match how people actually use their cars. A $200,000 GT with nowhere to set your coffee is going to generate the same kind of demand.

Why Jaguar is swinging this hard

When Jaguar revealed the radical GT concept in late 2024, the reaction was loud. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Lucid Motors both chimed in publicly, poking fun at the design and the brand's attempt to reinvent itself. The interior is the first cabin to debut Jaguar's new "creative philosophy," so this is the same bet, doubled down.

One commenter on the Electrek piece framed it well:

Jaguar has nothing to lose (low sales, aging lineup, aging customer base), so they're trying something new to see if it sticks. Even if it crashes, there will be a few good ideas in there for other automakers to steal without having to be so controversial themselves.

That's a fair read. Design experiments at the top of the market tend to trickle down, and interior ideas travel fast, from ambient lighting to digital rearview mirrors to minimalist console layouts.

What's next on the calendar

Jaguar will reveal the electric GT in full in New York on October 6. Before that, a Type 01 prototype is set to appear at Monterey Car Week wearing a distinctive new wrap. Pricing hasn't been confirmed, but former CEO Adrian Mardell told The Sunday Times in December 2024 that Jaguar's new luxury EV lineup would likely land around £150,000, or roughly $200,000.

The takeaway for EV owners

Very few of us will be cross-shopping a $200,000 Jaguar GT. But the Type 01 is a useful reminder of something every EV owner already knows: automakers design interiors around a design language, not around your commute. The gaps between those two things are exactly where good accessories live, whether that's storage that puts your drink somewhere sensible, a console organizer that reclaims wasted space, or trim that softens a cabin's sharper edges.

Jaguar's swing is bold, and the October reveal should tell us how much of the concept survived the trip to production. Until then, the brass trim and the missing cupholders are doing a lot of talking.