Jaguar has gone through a huge, refining its logo and changing its branding. It will be an EV-only brand from 2025 onward. Today, it released a teaser image of its newest car. However, its new ad campaign and rebranding drew considerable backlash online.
It seems like the fruits of Jaguar’s new rebrand may just pay off.
Hot on the heels of a controversial advertisement and announcement of new logos and typeface, the storied British sports car and sedan brand has shown off a cryptic look at its first model in an EV future, with an announcement that we’ll soon learn more on Dec. 2 in Miami.
The teaser doesn’t show a lot, but we can ascertain a surprisingly high amount of information from what appears to be a cropped dead-on rear photo of an aqua-colored car against a bright pink background. The mystery Jaguar is very wide, appearing to have a sports car-like width that houses the car’s wide tires. The car’s lines are interestingly rectilinear, a dramatic change from the organic flowing shapes of Jaguar’s now-discontinued ICE and EV models.
What few curves there are in the car’s haunches are offset by the car’s straight line and simplistic cutouts for what could be a rear grille or rear window. Whatever the case, it’s certainly a huge departure from whatever Jaguar was doing before today.
For those not in the know, Jaguar just previewed a provocative new advertising campaign that signaled a relaunch and rebranding of the classic British brand. It featured a high-contrast color palette, along with young high-fashion models in androgynous garments that feel reminiscent of designs from the late, great Alexander McQueen. The advertisement didn’t show a car or a timeline—just a tagline that said “copy nothing," which is actually a callback to a famous saying from Jaguar's founder.
The campaign felt as if Jaguar had somehow become a fashion brand under LVMH selling skincare or handbags rather than cars.
The ad’s reception has been pretty controversial. Some have praised Jaguar for taking a chance and attempting to set itself apart in a premium EV world, while others think the company should have focused on introducing a car—especially since Jaguar is killing its entire lineup of vehicles (including its lone EV) until its new models are introduced.
But the ad's inclusion of diverse faces and bodies has put Jaguar right in the crosshairs of the culture wars. Fox News called it "Bud Light 2.0" On X, the social media network owned by Elon Musk with an algorithm now keenly dialed in to reflect his politics, some have insisted that Jaguar’s ad is a symptom of everything wrong with society, that the mere presence of models in dresses means that Jaguar is done for.
Those seem like strange critiques to anyone who has paid any attention to the fashion industry. Jaguar's new direction feels pretty much in line with any luxury fashion house marketing campaign from any point in time from 2021 onward. That's clearly the vibe Jaguar is going for now, and probably must, since the cars are slated to cost at least $120,000.
A lot of the hate comments tend to revolve around a bygone era of Jaguar, one that they think catered to "rich men" intrested in the old-style, stodgy designs like the pre-2010 Jaguar XJ. But those designs, that marketing—it just wasn't working. In 2023, Jaguar sold a whopping 8,438 cars. By comparison, Genesis sold 68,798 vehicles that same year. Clearly, Jaguar was in bad need of a shake-up.
Whatever you feel, you can’t deny that it certainly got people talking about Jaguar in ways that its old cars never, ever did. Searches for Jaguar are up dramatically since it pulled this marketing stunt. Maybe Jaguar knows something we don’t, and it’ll pay off in the long run.
Jaguar’s next vehicle, which is likely a concept car, will be unveiled in early December. Is Jaguar's new direction misguided? Well, we'll just have to wait and see.
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