How to destroy a car brand: Jaguar's billion-dollar blunder

Jaguar is a brand that has been beloved by automotive enthusiasts for decades, thanks mostly to its amazing success in racing during the 1950s, producing Le Mans winners like XK-120C, C-Type, and D-Type.

Then, it made what Enzo Ferrari called "the most beautiful car ever made" — the iconic Jaguar E-Type.

An anonymous insider at JLR confirmed that this rebrand has been just as unpopular inside the company.

Fast-forward to today.

After changing hands many times over the decades, Jaguar now belongs to India's Tata Motors, which also owns Land Rover. It's done pretty well with the latter, especially with its all-new version of the Defender.

As for Jaguar? Well, we've all seen the ad by now.

From hero to zero

No more leaping Jaguar, no more roaring engines, no more classy cars with James Bond styling. The trendy, off-based teaser launch didn’t even show an actual car.

An anonymous insider at JLR confirmed that this rebrand has been just as unpopular inside the company. How much did Jaguar spend on consultants to make this terrible ad? It is too much!

At any rate, last week we finally got a glimpse of how this parade of freaky fashion victims translates into car design: Jaguar's new Type 00 (pronounced Type Zero Zero).

The Type 00 is an electric vehicle, featuring a long hood, sweeping roofline, fastback profile, and 23-inch alloy wheels. It gives the impression that it wants to be a Rolls-Royce Spectre — at a similar price.

Debuting in late 2025, the Type 00 will be built in the U.K. It has all flush surfaces, with a glassless rear tailgate, a panoramic roof, and body-harmonized glazing. It comes in two colors — dubbed Miami Pink and London Blue — and will have a projected driving range up to 430 miles on a single rapid charge.

Raw deal

As part of its shift to an electric-only lineup by 2026, Jaguar also plans to cut ties with most of its dealers. The brand intends to focus on wealthier areas, where potential buyers of its new premium electric vehicles live.

If you're wondering about the rationale behind this radical makeover, look no further than this statement by Jaguar marketing director Santino Pietrosanti:

"We're on a transformative journey of our own, driven by a vision of diversity, inclusion, creativity, policy, and, most importantly, action."

Whatever that's supposed to mean, going all EV at just the wrong moment could cost the brand its future.

I know many are having fun with Jaguar's transition from a macho V-8 brand to a feminine EV brand. But in truth, it is a leading indicator of the entire industry's neutering to the same, green, battery-powered cars.

Almost every brand has seen the light and reverted back to offering gasoline and hybrid vehicles in addition to electric.

Not Jaguar, apparently. Did the company not listen to the news or talk to any consumers?

Customers wanted

”We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently. We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes," said Rawdon Glover, Jaguar's managing director.

What Glover calls "stereotypes" some might call 100 years of heritage. Either way, the company's erased it with this expensive, fashion-show rebrand Hail Mary.

To be fair, the campaign did pay off in terms of buzz — it got Jaguar $1 billion in earned media. Kudos to whoever put that part of it together. Now, it just needs a new customer base of drivers willing to spend over $100,000 per EV.

Let's hope the new customers are buying. Jaguar only sold 66,000 vehicles in 2023.

Another historic British brand squanders its legacy. Given the direction Britain has gone as a whole the last couple years, this shouldn't surprise anyone. Keep in mind that if you lived there and spoke against this ad campaign on social media, you'd probably be thrown in jail for 20 years.

Fortunately, I'm an American: