Jaguar Rebrand: Clever Marketing Or Self Sabotage?

When one of the world’s most controversial billionaires is making jokes at your expense, you may have done something wrong. Or has Jaguar done something very right? Its sudden rebrand has sent shockwaves across the car industry – and the internet. Here’s exactly what all the fuss is about.

What’s The Story With The Jaguar Rebrand?

With a storied history dating back to 1922, Jaguar is not just one of Britain’s most recognisable car brands, but one of our most recognisable brands entirely. While it – as part of Jaguar Land Rover – has been owned by India’s Tata Motors since 2008, Jaguar’s story is rooted in British luxury. Its cars are distinguished by their sleek, sometimes sporty designs, characterised by flowing lines culminating with an aggressive front grille emblazoned with its unmistakable badge showcasing the snarling face of its namesake big cat.

Throughout its life, Jaguar has been known for creating high performance cars that blend elegance with powerful engineering and cutting edge technology. It is the latter facet that is spurring Jaguar into the future: it intends to be a fully electric luxury car marque by 2025. Thus the controversial Jaguar rebrand, which was launched with a vibrant trailer of sorts last month. Watch it below.

Introducing Exuberant Modernism

It’s a bold new era for Jaguar, and a brand new logo, aesthetic and ideology has been grouped under the theme ‘Exuberant Modernism’. The shift is dramatic, emphasising futuristic aesthetics and drawing on ‘diverse emerging artists that share the Copy Nothing ethos of its founder, Sir William Lyons,’ Jaguar said in a press release. It added it plans to recapture this Copy Nothing ethos which ‘can trace its roots back to 1935 and is built on embracing unexpected and original thinking and a brand character that commands attention through fearless creativity.’

This will be first embodied in Jaguar’s first electric four-door GT car, set to launch in 2026.

The Jaguar Type 00

Jaguar has unveiled the first images of Type 00 (pronounced ‘type zero zero’), its first car to embody its Exuberant Modernism ethos and recapture the Copy Nothing vision. The marque describes the car as ‘Jaguar at its best. A fearless statement. An object of desire. A concept with bold forms and exuberant proportions to inspire future Jaguars.’

Fitting these themes, at the centre of the car is uniqueness. Jaguar says the Type 00’s design ‘defies electric vehicle convention, featuring a long bonnet, sweeping roofline, fastback profile and 23‑inch alloy wheels for a dramatic silhouette’.

Available in two colours – Miami Pink and London Blue – the car is certainly futuristic. In the wake of Barbie’s takeover of 2022, it looks like something we’d find in the Mojo Dojo Casa House, but Jaguar insists, in unveiling the car at Miami Art Week, the car is ‘an advocate for art’ and celebrates ‘British artists and creativity’. On the plus side, the cars will be built in the UK.

‘The magic of Jaguar is close to my heart – an original British luxury brand unmatched in its heritage, artistry and emotional magnetism,’ shares Jaguar Land Rover (now known as JLR) CEO Adrian Mardell. ‘That’s the Jaguar we are recapturing and we will create the same sense of awe that surrounded iconic models like the E‑type. Our journey is already underway, guided by our original ethos to Copy Nothing – and the results will be spectacular.’

When it goes on sale in 2026, the Jaguar Type 00 is expected to cost in excess of £100,000.

Jaguar Rebrand: Clever Marketing Or Self Sabotage?

The internet is alight with scathing feedback for Jaguar. While the marque insists it copies nothing, many people have taken to social media to say the Type 00 looks like plenty of other cars on the market, namely fellow British brand Rolls-Royce’s Spectre car. Others have pointed out the Type 00 bears a resemblance to Porsche’s Panamera, and even Jaguar’s own historic E Type (with a modern twist, of course).

Broadcaster and former Top Gear presenter James May told the BBC he is ‘slightly disappointed’ by the Type 00. ‘I wanted something more futuristic,’ he told the BBC. ‘I mean, Jaguar have been saying they will copy nothing, but there’s quite a bit of other concept cars in that new Jag.’ Other critics have pointed out that the car is far too big – as is its price tag.

‘The rhetoric around electric cars has to be one of how you move the cars to being more affordable,’ comments Andy Palmer, a former boss of Aston Martin. ‘Jaguar is an outlier.’ May added Jaguar has historically been ‘very reasonably priced compared with, for example, Aston Martin. So I’d like to see something well more like half the price that they’re toting at the moment.’

Meanwhile, racing driver and motoring journalist Amanda Stretton commented that Jaguar has moved in the ‘wrong direction’ regarding price. ‘The market for cars in excess of £100,000 is not enormous. So Jaguar’s trying to break into a market that’s already tightly fought.’

The C&TH verdict? ‘Regardless of whether you love or hate the new logo and “Pink Panther” concept car, if Jaguar is going to reinvent itself as a truly luxury brand then it has a lot to do,’ comments C&TH Cars Editor and The Green Lane columnist, Jeremy Taylor. ‘First and foremost, the marque has to disassociate itself from the reliability issues that plague the halo JLR brand. Specifically, Defender and Range Rover. While the Land Rover element of JLR is unstoppable, like the all-wheel drive cars themselves, the brand’s woeful reputation means they sell some of the least reliable vehicles on, or often off, the road.’

In response to the criticism, Jaguar’s chief creative officer has not wobbled. ‘It has already stirred emotions and it will continue to,’ he said of the Type 00. ‘Jaguar has no desire to be loved by everybody.’

Read more like this in the C&TH Cars hub.