Jaguar’s controversial new rebrand
Jaguar certainly got a reaction to its new rebrand which just launched - and it was mostly negative. However the launch has definitely got a lot of press and attention plus everybody seems to have an opinion, so let’s dive into what has driven the rebrand and what the reaction has been.
Jaguar has ceased production of its entire range of cars and will introduce a brand new 100% electric line-up, with the first model debuting in 2025 and further vehicles being introduced in 2026. The rebrand is the first step in the journey, as the company seeks to move away from its heritage brand status that hasn’t seen much recent sales success and target a new audience for its cars.
The rebrand’s launch video features the company’s new logo and a bold new look, along with lines such as “create exuberant”, “delete ordinary” and “live vivid” plus the main strapline “copy nothing” and doesn’t feature any actual cars.
LinkedIn was on fire with reaction and the comments included the good, the bad and the ugly:
The good
“I enjoyed the radical boldness of Jaguar's rebrand, as unveiled yesterday. There, I said it!”
“Let’s face it: they took a risk. A big one. And risks? They’re the lifeblood of progress.”
“I admire the boldness, I like the freshness, and I hope this will make the Jaguar relevant and useful for years to come. Time will tell, not me.”
The bad
“I can picture a bunch of suits sitting around a table claiming to ‘Love it’ when actually they wondered if they’d accidentally been shown an advert for H&M.”
“Can’t imagine how the creatives who worked on it feel right now. I don’t think I’ve seen such a bad reaction to a rebrand in years.”
“Their launch video, the new typeface… it's lost so much heritage, the luxury, the feeling that Bond could step out of one!”
The ugly
“Honestly, I’m at a bit of a loss for words. Did they get a pack of three logos for £6.99 with a 24 hour turnaround?”
“Jaguar have gone from one of the greatest straplines: Grace, Space and Pace to Waste, Haste and No Taste.”
“A-level art using fridge magnet mottos.”
As someone who loves classic Jaguar cars and the history of the marque I think the rebrand is exceptionally brave, and of course it deliberately ignores their heritage completely. Jaguar’s sales have been poor for a few years, plus the brand perception is “old man’s car” so a radical move was required to find new audiences and customers, but in doing so they do seem to have alienated a lot of their current fan base.
By contrast, other car brands such Rolls-Royce and Porsche have evolved and become more popular and desirable whilst maintaining consistency with their past, so why has Jaguar struggled with this so much? Perhaps the product just simply hasn’t been good enough.
I’m looking forward to seeing the evolution of the new brand story, and I will reserve judgement until they release the new cars to the market to see if this bold new direction of travel is a good move or a mistake.