The luxury car brand Jaguar started in England in 1922 as a shop that built sidecars for motorcycles. When the British government stopped rationing steel at the end of World War II, the company was then able to purchase enough supplies to produce eye-catching sports cars. Flashy Jaguar vehicles went on to dominate international motorsport in the 1950s, giving the brand a global reputation as athletic and glamorous. But even as Jaguar grew to become the preferred automaker of the British Royal Family, the company struggled to draw as many customers as competitors like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Lexus.
Matters only got worse for Jaguar over the years as consumers began to switch from gas-powered cars to electric and hybrid vehicles. Faced with increasing competition from both its traditional rivals and new competitors like Tesla and Chinese brands BYD and Chery, Jaguar hasn’t earned a profit since 2018. As a result, Jaguar decided to shake things up this year with a marketing overhaul that amounts to a whole new identity for the well-known legacy brand. “We need to act differently,” said Rawdon Glover, managing director of Jaguar. “If we play in the same way that everybody else does, we’ll just get drowned out.”
For Jaguar, the changes include a new car design as well as a new logo, color palette, and brand voice. At the center is Jaguar’s new electric vehicle called the Type 00 (pronounced zero-zero), a change from the lettered models Jaguar is known for. To promote the vehicle’s release at the famous Art Basel festival in Miami, Jaguar released an ad featuring models in bright outfits displaying the slogan, “Copy nothing.” The video caused a firestorm on social media, where many users mocked the ad for failing to feature any cars. Of course, Jaguar’s ultimate goal with the video may have been simply to provide something for people to talk about. “Everyone has an opinion on this rebrand,” says advertising executive Gary Jenkins. “People are talking about Jaguar, including people outside its traditional customer base.”
Questions:
- Why is Jaguar getting rid of its old branding in favor of an updated image centered around electric cars?
- Do you think Jaguar’s updated brand image will succeed in attracting new customers to the legacy car company? Why or why not?
Sources: Kana Inagaki and Daniel Thomas, “Jaguar Boss Defends ‘Bold’ Rebranding After Backlash Over Video,” Financial Times, Nov. 22, 2024. Jenni Reid, “JaGUar? Luxury Automaker Defends Controversial Rebrand Amid Pivot to EVs,” CNBC, Nov. 22, 2024.