Now that the dust has settled on Jaguar’s rebrand, it’s worth assessing in the cold light of day. In November of last year, Jaguar didn’t just unveil a rebrand… they set fire to everything they once stood for. The internet exploded. Outrage. Confusion. Memes. But let’s take a look from a marketing perspective: was this a disaster or a masterclass in reinvention?
For decades, Jaguar was the epitome of old-money luxury. Sleek, understated, and let’s be honest, kind of predictable. Their cars were marketed with glossy shots of wealthy middle-aged men speeding through winding mountain roads, whispering “exclusivity” but screaming “stale.”
That was then.
Fast forward to November 2024, and Jaguar did the unthinkable. They blew up their identity. Gone was the deep racing green colour, the famous feline logo, and the cool, refined elegance. Instead was a rebrand so jarring it felt like a marketing ploy. Or a spoof.
Neon pinks. Blazing corals. A bizarre dystopian landscape filled with androgynous models in avant-garde fashion, floating through space like extras in a sci-fi fever dream. And the pièce de résistance? Not a single car in sight.
Oh, and the logo? That sleek, iconic Jaguar font? Replaced with a soft, bubbly typeface that looks more at home on a Gen Z skincare brand than a car manufacturer.
It was audacious. It was polarising. And it pissed a lot of people off.
Within hours of launch, social media was flooded with opinions. The loudest criticism? That Jaguar had gone “too woke.” That they had abandoned their core audience, an audience that, by the way, is largely wealthy, conservative, and deeply uninterested in the world of high-fashion futurism.
Elon Musk chimed in. Memes ran rampant. And most called it a disaster.
And let’s not ignore the elephant in the room: Jaguar’s ‘inclusive’ new positioning conveniently coincided with their decision to increase their price point. An all-electric line-up with a starting price of around £100k. So much for accessibility.
Did Jaguar really have to go this extreme? Could they have modernised without potentially alienating their traditional fanbase? Absolutely.
The key mistake was abandoning everything that made Jaguar, Jaguar, instead of finding a way to evolve it.
Jaguar didn’t do this for fun. This was a survival move. In 2023, while Range Rover was laughing all the way to the bank with 300,000 units sold at a decent profit per car, Jaguar was bleeding. Just 64,000 cars sold and worse, they were losing money on each one.
So, Jaguar needed to do something. And that something was to hit reset. Their future? Fully electric. Production paused until 2026. No more playing it safe.
The numbers say… maybe? The campaign pulled in 3.7 million views and 45,000 comments. Jaguar isn’t even selling cars right now, yet here we are, a couple of months down the line still talking about them.
But the real question is: does any of this actually sell cars? Or is Jaguar just another brand chasing virality for the sake of it?
I guess we will have to wait until 2026 to find out.
One thing’s for sure, love it or hate it, this rebrand made Jaguar impossible to ignore.
