Opinion: The Jaguar rebrand deserves praise, not scorn

11/22/2024 04:45 PM

On December 2, 2024, Jaguar will debut its latest concept car in Miami and the eyes of the world will be watching.

This is quite the feat, given concept car unveilings aren't typically fodder for mainstream media.

RELATED: What do Drive readers REALLY think of Jaguar’s rebrand?

While occasionally helpful for providing previews of upcoming production cars or showcasing a manufacturer's capabilities, concept cars are rarely relevant or interesting to the everyday consumer.

With its recent rebrand, Jaguar appears to have changed that. Come December 2, car lovers and consumers alike will be logging on, eager to see how the brand's new look will translate to the road.

Having long been a niche offering for upper-class, enthusiast buyers who are now arguably ageing out of the new-car market, Jaguar found itself fighting for relevance in an increasingly electrified, post-TikTok world.

Today, it's challenging Tesla for the title of the world's most talked-about car brand.

For those not up to speed, on November 19, 2024, the British manufacturer unabashedly did away with 90 years of understated elegance and upmarket opulence by launching a new look for its electric era.

This gold-tinged brand overhaul came complete with new logos, new badging, a new typeface, and even a new way of spelling its own name: JaGuar. 

The relaunch was accompanied by a nonsensical promotional video in which a variety of models traipse around a multicoloured planet like very stylish aliens, while intentionally obtuse slogans like “create exuberant” and “break moulds” splash across the screen.

As expected, the rebrand was also explained using unintelligible marketing speak, with phrases like "exuberant modernism" thrown around with abandon. 

Within minutes, the candy-coloured, pop art-style overhaul became the subject of internet scorn, with hundreds of comments on Jaguar's Instagram page accusing the luxury car maker of "brand suicide".

Meanwhile, a Drive survey asking readers for their opinion on the rebrand received upwards of 1200 responses in 24 hours, with 89 per cent of respondents saying the new look was "terrible". 

For his part, Jaguar design chief Gerry McGovern was unbothered by the uproar. In fact, it played right into his plans. 

"It will shock, surprise and polarise," he told British media of his creation.

"It will make you feel uncomfortable. That’s fine. The world is not standing still. The brief I set was to be jaw-dropping."

He succeeded – jaws have been dropping, fingers have been wagging, and mouths have been talking, with millions of internet dwellers suddenly gossiping about Jaguar to a degree the brand has likely never seen before. 

Search giant Google reports a 500 per cent increase in online queries for the brand and even here on Drive, the number of views on the Jaguar rebrand story eclipses all of the recent stories about the brand’s petrol models ending production, combined. Jaguar has rearranged a sentiment of ‘who’ to ‘how’ and they haven’t even shown a car yet.

It's perhaps unsurprising given we're talking about the same global conglomerate – Jaguar Land Rover – that somehow took the Land Rover Defender from a pragmatic, agricultural vessel for 4×4 lovers and farmers, to a veritable lifestyle brand for the young, rich and glamorous. 

Whether or not Jaguar's bold move will sell cars remains to be seen. But if the plan was to rescue an increasingly archaic brand from the brink of irrelevance – mission accomplished.

Like it or loathe it, due to this week’s colourful marketing exercise, the whole world will be watching the reveal of the Jaguar concept car in Miami on December 2, and if garnering attention was the goal, bravo.

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