(London) No more English green and the internal combustion engine, welcome to pink and electric: the venerable British luxury car manufacturer Jaguar has taken a 180-degree turn to reach a wealthier clientele, attracting sometimes violent criticism.
Posted at 7:05 a.m.
Updated at 9:56 a.m.
Clement ZAMPA
Agence France-Presse
By presenting a gleaming electric concept car in flashy pink in Miami on Monday, in a clear break with its traditional fundamentals, the brand hoped to surprise.
Mission accomplished: the manufacturer, owned by the Indian Tata Motors, is making headlines again. And its repositioning since mid-November towards an opulent and colorful style is causing an unexpected uproar – not always for the best.
“We want to be bold and disruptive,” explained the manufacturer’s managing director, Rawdon Glover, on Tuesday, interviewed by Sky News. “More people have been talking about Jaguar in the last two weeks than, my God, in a long time. »
In addition to color, this criticized renewal also involves a modernized logo with geometric shapes, as well as a first advertising clip including models of all ages and origins, dressed in yellow, orange, red and pink clothing, without a single automobile.
The slogans: “create the exuberant”, “remove the ordinary”, “do not copy anything”.
“Barbie Model”
Ironic comment from Elon Musk – owner of competitor Tesla – to the advertisement published by Jaguar on X: “You sell cars? »
“I predict that Jaguar will now go bankrupt. And you know what? They deserve it,” the leader of the far-right Reform UK party, Nigel Farage, declared on the same network.
The Jaguar Type 00, the new pink racing car, which the company intends to make the symbol of its radical repositioning, with its “bold shapes”, its “exuberant proportions” and this “spectacular silhouette”, ended up finishing off the defenders of values traditional Jaguar designs.
This “Barbie model” constitutes “a disaster for one of Britain’s most iconic brands”, commented The Daily Telegraph in an editorial Tuesday.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM JAGUAR SITE
Le concept Type 00
Another target of the conservative newspaper: the advertising campaign, “a celebration woke of diversity and inclusion”, considered “one of the worst marketing operations of all time”.
“We absolutely want a reasoned debate – if it becomes discriminatory, I cannot tolerate it,” Rawdon Glover responded to critics, saying he wanted to “take as many as possible” of the brand’s fans “on this journey” , but also “attract a new audience”.
“Media Hype”
Commercially speaking, such a drastic repositioning is risky, especially at a time when brands are seeking to rely on their fundamentals and their history.
The boycott launched by conservatives last year of Bud Light beer in the United States after a partnership with a transgender influencer is only the most recent example.
But with this strategy, the English manufacturer intends to move upmarket and compete with Bentley and Rolls-Royce from 2026, with a range of 100% electric vehicles priced at several tens of thousands of euros.
“Jaguar wants to shake up the market and its pool of buyers, by targeting wealthier motorists who could in the past have opted for Porsche or Bentley,” explains Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell.
“Jaguar has attracted attention, and if it can persuade enough people to buy into the hype, when the first of its new models roll off the production line, its strategy will be studied and potentially copied for years to come,” explains Danni Hewson.
The concept presented on Monday should serve as the basis for the brand’s new electric model, expected in 2025.
