Jaguar is a sports car marque that conjures up certain images: the stoicness of Inspector Morse in his red Mk2; Ben Kingsley, Mark Strong and Tom Hiddleston purring that villains ‘all drive Jaguars’ in a (now banned) TV advert.
What it probably didn’t inspire thoughts of, until yesterday, were technicolour explosions of avante garde fashion and a car advert featuring no cars.
It’s all part of a new look that abandons the classic ‘growler’ badge, revealed two weeks before the company’s first new car in its all-electric line-up is unveiled at Miami Art Week on December 2.
As the firm revealed the new look yesterday, it knew it was set for a backlash. Car fans have reacted angrily to a rebrand that they say lacks claws – branding it ‘woke’ and ‘unhinged’.
In return, the firm has responded in kind with replies ranging from the cryptic to downright saccharine, suggesting it simply doesn’t care – as its boss admits the firm expects only 15 per cent of future buyers to be existing customers.
‘Hello, thanks for the feedback! We’ll be sure to pass it onto the team. Best wishes,’ the firm said to many of its detractors on social media.
‘Go woke, go broke,’ wrote several people in tweets to the firm. ‘Go hard,’ Jaguar fired back.
Responding to an almost accusatory tweet reading ‘I thought you guys made cars??’, the firm’s social media team simply said: ‘We do. All will be revealed.’
Jaguar’s new rebrand has attracted accusations the company has gone ‘woke’ – as it launched the new look with an advert featuring no cars
The classic Jaguar ‘growler’ logo has been ditched as the car firm reinvents itself to appeal to a younger audience of car buyers
This is the new Jaguar logo – a roundel made up of the letters ‘J’ and ‘R’ that looks the same both ways up
Jaguar has unveiled its new ‘brand’ look with a technicolour advertisement that features precisely no cars
Jaguar has been accused of going ‘woke’ by car fans on social media – but responses from the firm suggest it is not bothered by the reaction
Even Tesla CEO Elon Musk got in on the act, asking the firm: ‘Do you sell cars?’
Jaguar replied warmly: ‘Yes. We’d love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2nd December?’
The radical look is part of Jaguar’s complete reimagination as it races ahead of the 2030 deadline for car firms to stop selling petrol and diesel cars in the UK (excluding hybrids, but the firm isn’t interested in fossil fuels at all).
It has been testing what looks to be a radically different four-door saloon in the UK recently, draped in zebra-style camouflage paint that covers up its mysterious curves and details, down to the shapes of the windows and headlamps.
But this is not the concept that will be unveiled in Miami. Instead, that will be a ‘design vision concept’ that will probably cause as much upset as the rebrand. Not that Jaguar appears to be fussed by the reaction.
The company has been unapologetic as it pushes forward with its reinvention and even concedes that 85 per cent of its customers in future will be new fans of the brand – younger affluent drivers looking for electric motors.
Gerry McGovern, the car firm’s design boss, said yesterday he wanted to create a ‘jaw-dropping’ redesign that will ‘shock, surprise and polarise’.
The firm’s managing director, Rawdon Glover, admitted 85 per cent of its customers in future would be first-time buyers.
He has also confessed is also ‘no Plan B’ for the firm, which was sold by Ford to Tata in 2008.
The advert features boldly dressed fashion models in bright primary colours alongside slogans such as ‘break moulds’ and ‘create exuberant’
‘Hello, thanks for the feedback! We’ll be sure to pass it onto the team. Best wishes,’ the firm said to many of its detractors on social media
‘To bring back such a globally renowned brand we had to be fearless. Jaguar was always at its best when challenging convention,’ he said yesterday.
Gone is the classic all-caps ‘JAGUAR’ font that recalled stateliness and even a hint of menace. In its place, a jumble of letters that appears to read ‘JaGuar’ and a roundel badge that reads ‘J R’.
Even the classic ‘leaper’ big cat isn’t spared from the overhaul – changing from leaping right-to-left to left-to-right as a sign the firm is ‘always leaping forward’.
But the move has not impressed some fans who have even threatened to sell their cars in response.
‘For shame,’ one fan wrote, sharing an image of his two convertible Jaguars, as he accused the firm of ‘pandering’.
The bold colours trailed in the controversial new ad will be rolled out to Jaguar showrooms to shake off the idea that Jags are stuffy and for the older generation.
Jaguar has long been associated with the likes of Inspector Morse (as played by John Thaw, above) – rarely seen without his iconic Mk2
The firm says the new look is inspired by the words of its founder, Sir William Lyons, who once said: ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing.’
‘This dramatic, unmistakable and unexpected expression of what it means to Copy Nothing will be a preview of the fearless approach to come from Jaguar,’ it said in a statement.
Jaguar has been absent from the UK car market for 12 months as it ‘sunsetted’ its legacy cars, which most recently included the E-Pace and F-Pace SUVs, the F-Type coupe and convertible and the I-Pace electric car.
Moving forward, the firm has a four-door saloon to come and is expected to follow this up with a two-door ‘fastback’ coupe boasting a roofline reminiscent of the classic E-Type and a large SUV.
The saloon is expected to hit the market in 2026 for just under £100,000 – placing it in a premium market alongside other electric cars made by the likes of Porsche.
It has also been working on its electric car technology in the background as it withdrew petrol and diesel models from the market, competing in the Formula E electric motorsports championship.
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