Why Fans Are Furious About Jaguar’s Crazy Clean Slate Strategy
Jaguar has taken what many might call a… er… extraordinary decision – and that’s putting it politely! The once-proud purring cat of British motoring has decided to slink away into the shadows for a while, taking a ‘sabbatical’ until at least 2026. While doing so, it’s exploring its sexuality, applying makeup, dressing in a tutu, and practising pouting for selfies.
So no new Jaguars available to buy for the foreseeable, and a radical reboot of the brand that has left Jaag-loyals repulsed and everyone else befuddled. But taking a ‘firebreak’ is perhaps the company hoping that absence will make the heart grow fonder, but instead, it could make the memories go fainter. Especially when Jaguar itself seems to want to erase its own past. All in all, fans have been left scratching their heads and wondering, what on earth are Jaguar bosses thinking?
But taking a ‘firebreak’ is perhaps the company hoping that absence will make the heart grow fonder, but instead, it could make the memories go fainter. Especially when Jaguar itself seems to want to erase its own past.
Pause or Permanently Parked?
Jaguar’s move to stop selling new cars is either a smart strategic pause, or the beginning of the end. They’re aiming for an all-electric future, and that’s not inherently wrong. But to cut production and divorce from its past petrol cars feels a bit like throwing the baby out with the bath water. It seems to be the complete abandonment of everything that defined them. No V12, no V8, not even a V6…. no roaring grand tourer, no growling saloon? No accessible sports saloon rival to a BMW 3 series? When they do return, they’ll be quieter than a strict library and will be targeting Bentley buyers rather than the everyman who just wants a slice of British class.
After all, we’re not talking about a temporary pit stop here; Jag assembly lines aren’t falling silent for a few months, there will be no new product from this fabled brand for at least a year and probably more, that hasn’t happened since World War II.
They’re planning to bring back a grand tourer, an EV, in 2026. But in this breakneck market, where everyone from Chinese manufacturers to Tesla are innovating at lightning speed, will that be too little, too late, not to mention too boutique? In other words – will anyone care? After all, we’re not talking about a temporary pit stop here; Jag assembly lines aren’t falling silent for a few months, there will be no new product from this fabled brand for at least a year and probably more, that hasn’t happened since World War II.
Moving to EVs isn’t the problem – they were actually ahead of the curve once with the I-Pace- but instead of building on that success, and evolving that car, they let it stagnate, then gave up with it altogether.
Rebranding: From Roaring Lion to Meek Kitty
Now let’s talk about this staggering rebranding – something that actually did not really even need to happen. If the brand was going into the back rooms to tinker with new ideas and products, then wouldn’t it be better to quietly disappear and then reemerge with a fanfare? Instead, they’ve gone out with a bang, and not the good kind. They’ve provoked a reaction for sure, but it’s overwhelming disgust, distress and despair. It seems really unnecessary to provoke so much negativity when there is no new product to sell, no narrative to relate really?
And yet, they’ve changed the logos, tweaked the branding, and honestly, the new look feels more like a failed fashion label or perfume bottle design than a proud automotive badge. The leaper, once bold and striking, now hides in the shadows, reduced to a barely-there silhouette. It’s like they’re embarrassed by it, like they don’t want to be reminded of their former glory. The Jaguar logo, once a strong solid font, is now so lacking in self-confidence that it doesn’t know if it’s upper-case or lower, apart from the “G”.
Instead, they’ve gone out with a bang, and not the good kind. They’ve provoked a reaction for sure, but it’s overwhelming disgust, distress and despair.
They’ve wiped the slate clean – literally: old social media posts have all been deleted, previous branding, everything that celebrated their past, gone. Erasing the past, dismissing the glory days, forgetting that no less than Enzo Ferrari himself once called the E-Type “the most beautiful car in the world”. All those roaring ads that made you yearn for an F-Type are now replaced by something that looks closer to an advert for androgynous futuristic fashion.
Lost in the Maze of Modernity – What Went Wrong?
Meanwhile, other brands like Porsche, Mercedes, and BMW seem to have read the market far better. Porsche has introduced the Taycan alongside its beloved 911, never letting go of its petrol-powered past. Mercedes gives you the full smorgasbord – petrol, hybrid, EV. You want it? They got it. They even cleverly market this choice in their ads, showcasing SUVs with different powertrains lined up together – here’s the electric, here’s the hybrid, here’s the petrol. It says: we’re ready for the future, but we’re not ditching our heritage just yet.
BMW’s strategy? Run the i-series alongside their combustion models. The i4 M50 remains one of my favourite EVs to drive because it’s still infused with the essence of BMW. The driving dynamics, the excitement, the soul – it’s all there, battery-powered or not.
In contrast, what’s Jaguar doing? Wiping the board and hoping a ‘clean slate’ strategy will lure new buyers. But will they? Or is this just alienating their old faithful fans who loved Jaguar for what it used to be?
The Emotional Fallout: From Love to Loss
Let’s face it – Jaguar fans aren’t just upset. They’re downright heartbroken. The reaction isn’t so much rage as it is sorrow. It’s like a beloved family pet suddenly wandering off, getting lost and being eaten by a non-binary wolf.
By contrast, do you recall the epic Jaguar campaign from back in 2015? The advert with Sir Ben Kingsley, Tom Hiddleston and Mark Strong, ending with that cheeky line “Oh yes… It’s good to be bad”? It was confident, cool, and quintessentially British. It made you want a Jaguar. You didn’t care if it was unreliable – you just wanted one.
Now, what do we have? Ads that look like they’re pushing designer handbags rather than cars. They’ve swapped “It’s good to be bad” for “I’m stoked to be woke”. They’ve taken everything distinctive, everything that gave Jaguar an undertone of charmingly deadly villainy, and turned it into faux fashion for performative activists.
Legacy Matters – Learn from the Competition
The other big problem that legacy car makers have, is the relentless onslaught of the upstart Chinese companies. They can’t compete with the volume, prices and innovation coming from the land of the Great Wall. But there’s one thing the legacy car companies have got that the Chinese new brands don’t – legacy! Yup, heritage, history, a storied past.
Now, what do we have? Ads that look like they’re pushing designer handbags rather than cars. They’ve swapped “It’s good to be bad” for “I’m stoked to be woke”. They’ve taken everything distinctive, everything that gave Jaguar an undertone of charmingly deadly villainy, and turned it into faux fashion for performative activists.
Legacy is the one thing that Chinese carmakers can’t replicate (although to be fair, they can buy it, such as in the case of MG, Volvo and Lotus). Heritage matters, and it can’t just be manufactured overnight. Renault’s going retro with the new 4 and 5, Ford’s keeping the Mustang alive, Porsche will never give up the 911, and Aston Martin is forever linked to James Bond. Why? Because people love nostalgia. They love history. They love being reminded of why they fell in love with a brand in the first place.
What’s Jaguar doing? Deleting all of that. Deleting its past, erasing its own identity, and creating a new mystery mystique that no one asked for, and arguably no one will care about. Jaguar seems determined to become some abstract ‘luxury’ brand without any of the memories that once made it great. It’s like they’re trying to make us forget its past glories – and that’s a dangerous game to play.
Will Jaguar Roar Again, or Is This the End of the Road?
The future for Jaguar is looking more uncertain than ever. They’ve thrown away everything that made people love them, gone dark for a couple of years, and bet the farm on ultra-luxury EVs when the market is still figuring out whether we even want those at all. Right now, the UK’s Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate is pushing for 22% EV sales, but we’re only seeing 18.1%. Ford is already cutting jobs due to declining EV demand, and everyone is adjusting their strategy to find some balance.
Jaguar’s ‘all or nothing’ approach might have worked if they’d done it gradually, but instead, they’ve gone from “we’ve got an EV too” to hanging over the edge of the crumbling cliffs of Dover by a power cable connected to a festooned adapter on a wall socket that’s starting to spark. Oh dear.
They’ve gone from “we’ve got an EV too” to hanging over the edge of the crumbling cliffs of Dover by a power cable connected to a festooned adapter on a wall socket that’s starting to spark. Oh dear.
Will anyone be waiting for them in 2026? Or will they return to an empty room, where everyone’s unplugged and gone wireless? They’ve put everything literally on the line, hoping for a successful comeback, but it’s a huge gamble, and frankly, it’s one they can’t afford to lose. Or perhaps they were thinking they can’t afford to pay the ZEV mandate fines when they miss the 22% target – which a lot of car companies will!
But then why the big rebrand, the shocking realignment of Jaguar as a playful perversive deliberately designed to provoke a reaction – which it has done. Very powerfully so. You could argue that’s a clever strategy to get a brand no one’s talking about to be top trending in automotive for the last three days. Great. Fantastic. Brilliant. If it was about getting punters back into the showrooms to buy more cars… oh wait. They’ve stopped selling cars. So why bother with this radical rebrand? It all seems a pointless exercise. Unless…
They’re fattening up the turkey for Christmas. The traditional Jag loyalists and fans may not be impressed, but like I said, Jaguar has lit up the algorithms, and guess who might be noticing – prospective buyers, especially in China.
They’re fattening up the turkey for Christmas. The traditional Jag loyalists and fans may not be impressed, but like I said, Jaguar has lit up the algorithms, and guess who might be noticing – prospective buyers, especially in China. Oh, they’d snap it up in an instant. And then they’d go back big on brand legacy. Full circle here we come.
Or am I hopelessly trying to make sense of a world that makes no sense any more? In which case I’ll have to leave you with this insightful quote from George Bernard Shaw:
“When the world goes mad, one must accept madness as sanity; since sanity is, in the last analysis, nothing but the madness on which the whole world happens to agree.”
So, tell me, is this just the kind of bold move that could pay off for a struggling car company, or has Jaguar gone mad, or have I, or have you, or has everyone? Let’s hear your thoughts below.
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