Jaguar's reinvention as an electric luxury brand will kick off next year with the arrival of the production version of its radical new GT – and Autocar has had a first taste of this era-defining EV's incredible potential.

The new coupé is based on the bold Type 00 Concept revealed last year and is nearing the end of an extensive testing process. We were given a high-speed ride in the prototype for our first experience of the new tri-motor set-up that offers in excess of 1000bhp. 

The extraordinary invitation arrived without warning. A few days previously, the car world's concentration had been on the departure of JLR design chief Gerry McGovern. A week before that, the company's new CEO, PB Balaji, had begun his role, tasked with "sorting things out".

Now came a chance to ride on JLR's Gaydon test track in a new GT prototype, disguised inside and out but very close in dynamic performance to the production cars due to be offered for sale in summer next year and on owners' driveways in early 2027.

It was tempting to look for a connection between this opportunity arising so soon after McGovern's sudden departure an attempt to prove that all was well at Gaydon - but then I decided I simply didn't care. This was not merely a chance to sample an important new prototype but to assess the dynamic character of the Jaguars of the future and to form a proper opinion about whether the company was heading in the right direction. We had been wondering how this opportunity would arrive. Now, here it was. 

I would be accompanying vehicle development chief Matt Becker, who has performed marvels in previous roles at Lotus and Aston Martin, on a 20-minute demonstration ride on Gaydon's extensive network of test tracks, which vary from Silverstone-smooth high-speed surfaces to narrow, tight, undulating roads used to test Range Rovers. Gaydon is designed to uncover dynamic shortcomings in cars and 20 minutes with Becker was going to be more than long enough to find them, if they were there.

Our car, disguised in irregularly patterned black and white camouflage, was parked behind the JLR design studios. Up close, it was very long indeed (at 5.4m) but remarkably low, with a very short front overhang and a medium-long one at the rear. Its dominant feature was the long nose, already embraced as a contemporary Jaguar aesthetic cue by the car's designers. In official terms, the car has a prodigious dash-to-axle distance, which means there's a lot of space between the front wheel arch and the door opening. The wheelbase is long, which is one reason why this car needs rear-wheel steering to tighten its turning circle. That also helps to enhance high-speed stability.

The car will be built largely in aluminium at a new factory on JLR's substantial Solihull estate. The body sits on a very rigid skateboard chassis that houses a long, large but thin underbody battery with a capacity believed to be around 120kWh, giving a practical range of more than 400 miles.

There are three motors one up front and one on each rear wheel - with torque vectoring built in. Power totals about 1000bhp. The front-to-rear torque split is variable, but it is understood to settle around 30% front and 70% rear.

There's independent air suspension all round. A three-chamber set-up for each wheel allows controlling processors to decide its spring and damper rates, though the driver can change its mood for comfort or performance - from the cockpit. Ultra-powerful disc brakes fit inside the car's standard 23in wheels, though much of the normal retardation is by regeneration.

Clambering into the car, the low roof and dash-to-axle distance take some getting used to. So does the low hip point when I settle in the seat: clever battery packaging means there's absolutely no impression that you're sitting on a plank, a common EV problem. Head room is fine, despite the low roof. There isn't much to see of what lies beneath the black fabric trim covers, but I get glimpses of quality trim in a light-coloured interior and a steering wheel with column levers very reminiscent of the concept.

With the faintest hum, the car eases away across the concrete apron, around the end of the studio buildings towards the test track. The first thing I notice is this car's quietness and lack of floor-level vibration on a rough-cast surface. The isolation is eerie.

A few yards further on, a series of concrete plates meet awkwardly in a way that's tailor-made to generate horrible head toss in ordinary cars. In this Jaguar, we ride it beautifully. Becker reckons it's the combined effect of an extremely rigid chassis, a widely variable-rate suspension and our low seating. In the tradition of the very finest cars, I'm feeling this Jaguar's sophistication in the first few hundred yards. 

Once at the track, we go fast. We accelerate really hard, with just a little nose lift and that noiseless feeling of being propelled by a huge piece of elastic attached to the horizon. Nosedive and body roll are present, but also elegantly controlled. The thrust doesn't ease. At 150mph, the car is absolutely planted on the track and Becker and I converse normally, though he apologises for extra wind noise from the 'bin bag' disguise.

The main Gaydon track is a kind of junior Le Mans, with generous straights and some high-speed corners. It has other users today and, demonstrating the Jaguar's immense cornering grip, Becker effortlessly drives around the outside of a fat-tyred Defender that appears to be on its door handles.

The straight-line acceleration is awesome. Even if this car weighs somewhere around 2.5 tonnes, its 1000bhp must surely mean the 0-60mph time will be in the early-to mid-3sec bracket. It can so effortlessly add speed beyond 100mph that I strongly suspect there's a Porsche Taycan-style two-speed gearbox buried in that powertrain, though Jaguar won't say. "Power in reserve" is a Jaguar brand value, explains Becker.

We take to some higher-speed rough stuff, tracks I've previously traversed in a Range Rover. The car's quietness and suppleness of bump absorption, with immaculate body control, easily eclipse JLR's best SUV, setting standards that are simply outside of my experience. That's a profound shock.

Of course, it will be necessary to drive much more, in finished cars and in lots of other environments, to draw a firm conclusion. But I'm sure, after 20 minutes, that Jaguar has produced something very special here.

Driving back, passing again over those awkward concrete plates that my eyes say must create discomfort, yet which don't, I can suddenly see where Jaguar is aiming. This is indeed going to be a car people just want to drive, regardless of motive power, for what it can do.

Jaguar boss Rawdon Glover has explained to me that the firm wants to build "hugely desirable, aspirational cars". My first dynamic experience tells me they're a very long way down the right road.

Read Steve Cropley's full Q&A with Rawdon Glover here