Lunaz unveils world’s first electric classic Jaguar with ocean clean-up textiles



(June 18, 2022) LONDON — Lunaz, one of the world’s leading creator of up-cycled, restored and electrified classic cars, has unveiled a very special customer commission: a 1952 Jaguar XK120 handed over at the Concours on Savile Row in London. The car presented a world-first for a project of this type — a leather-free interior that utilizes ocean clean-up materials. This includes carpets that are woven from reclaimed nylon sea-fishing nets. Additionally, the backing of these carpets is up-cycled from marine plastic pollution such as plastic bottles.


The process of reclaiming waste materials from the ocean is already being successfully utilized in the worlds of fashion, fine furniture making and high-end watch manufacturing. Global demand for these kinds of sustainable materials is driving significant positive environmental impact: for every tonne of the raw material produced to make the materials that make Lunaz’ carpet, seven barrels of crude oil are saved and nearly seven tonnes of carbon is not emitted.

Personalization is at the heart of every Lunaz build. This falls to an in-house design department led by Lunaz Design Director, Jen Holloway. Together with her team, they work in close collaboration with customers to understand their aesthetic and personal sensibilities. In the case of this very special build, the client visited Lunaz throughout the commissioning and specification process to understand the way that alternatives to leather and innovative up-cycled materials perform from a visual and comfort perspective.

This led to a decision by the customer to create an entirely leather-free interior specified to complement the bespoke Obsidian Blue exterior color-scheme. This is painted in-house at Lunaz’ home in Silverstone, UK and is one of the limitless palettes of colors available to every Lunaz customer.

This very close collaboration yielded an interior finished in an innovative blend of textiles, traditional woods and up-cycled materials. For example, the seat frame is constructed from recyclable aluminum. This offers both a contemporary aesthetic and an alternative to traditional classic material palettes while delivering the functional requirements of the seat.

The seats are then finished in a super-high-quality fabric material. Subtle reference to the driver-focus of this particular car is made through the addition of a black stripe to the driver’s seat.

The Burr Walnut veneer wood is given contemporary aesthetic through a satin lacquer. Wherever possible, material from the 70-year-old vehicle was painstakingly restored to minimize the requirement to create new materials. This extends to the substrates which were then re-veneered in sustainably sourced timber.

Lunaz’ team of engineers have subtly integrated the latest infotainment and audio technology into the vehicle. This includes the discreet placement of a screen installed with Apple CarPlay to operate the client’s preferred navigation and music streaming apps.

Lunaz’ proposition has created global demand from both new classic car owners and existing collectors seeking to rebalance their collections in line with shifting global sensibilities. An independent environmental audit found that, once a Lunaz vehicle undergoes the brand’s process of re-engineering and electrification, it reclaims more than 80% of the embedded carbon of the original car’s manufacture.

Therefore, this approach represents a sustainable means to keep the most celebrated cars in history on the road while addressing the other key barriers to classic car ownership; usability and reliability.

The Jaguar XK120, one of the most celebrated evocations of British sports car design was unveiled at the Concours on Savile Row, a street universally understood as the global centre of traditional and contemporary tailoring.

Lunaz’ presence at the celebration of the ‘art of bespoke’ was shared with Arthur Sleep, maker of bespoke shoes. Arthur Sleep represents the identical combination of old-world style with new-world technical substance that drives Lunaz.

Every classic car by Lunaz undergoes a full bare metal restoration. This takes place at the company’s home in Silverstone, England. This facility has quickly grown into the largest up-cycling and electrification campus in Britain.

The Lunaz modular powertrain was developed by a team of engineers drawn from some of the leading names in automotive design and technology and under the leadership of Jon Hilton, former Technical Director of Renault Formula 1. Following his double-world championship winning stint he founded hybrid and electric powertrains pioneer Flybrid. Hilton joined Lunaz Founder David Lorenz in 2018.

It is also home to Lunaz Applied Technologies (LAT) which takes the Lunaz approach to remanufacturing and electrification and applies it to the up-cycling and conversion of global industrial fleets.

The company is among one of the fastest growing in Britain and has attracted investment from leading institutional names including the Barclay, Dalal and Reuben families and David Beckham.