Jaguar bets all on a doubled-up reinvention to take on BMW and Porsche

Jaguar chief executive Adrian Mardell at the Reimagined Jaguar launch. Getty Images/AFP

Every major brand redesign follows a familiar pattern. The new look is unveiled and the world piles in. Some people like it, some don’t. The company declares itself satisfied that’s good because they’re talking about it. Then, they wait for the sales figures to convey whether it’s a hit or a flop.

Put like that, the new Jaguar is on that same road. But even by the precarious nature of rebranding, this one seems especially dangerous. To say it’s radical is an understatement. This is a kitchen sinking on an epic scale.

Gone is the famous leaping cat logo. Instead, there is a new double-J logo. Banished too is any reference to past cars that were known for their soft, feline curves. The only successor seen so far is outsized, deliberately imposing with sharp lines.

The Type 00, as it’s called, scrapping the suggestion of linkage to the classic E-Type and the rest of yesteryear, is a grand tourer, a clear statement vehicle. So far, it’s been presented in just two colours, pink and blue – Miami pink and London blue to be precise. Its large frame and interior owe more to a Rolls-Royce Phantom or stretch limo than a practical motor for getting from A to B.

There will be two accompanying models, also all-electric, a saloon and SUV. The new range will be pricier, too – starting at £100,000, twice the cost of the cheapest Jaguar in the now discontinued line-up, with suggestions from the company that some variations will reach £150,000.

Even allowing for the fact that what’s been revealed to date is a prototype, and inevitably, the final product due in 2026 may turn out to be less extreme, this is one large gamble. Jaguar Land Rover, or JLR, and its parent, the Indian conglomerate Tata, are not holding back, putting all the chips on one number. Stopping selling the current Jaguar is dramatic evidence of that intent.

If Jaguar execs are right and people buy it, the new vehicle will stand as a testament to genius, but fail and it’s likely former successes will be forgotten. PA

They can take the pain – Jaguar’s sibling marques, Land Rover (new Defender) and Range Rover (new classic Range Rover and Sport), have been world bestsellers in recent years and the same team responsible for their success is behind this reincarnation, rebirth, call it what you will. Whether Jaguar’s workers, most of whom are based in Britain, where the new line-up will be built, will survive the loss remains to be seen.

Something had to be done. For decades, Jaguar has taken a fearsome pounding from the sleek Germans of Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche. Sales which used to total more than 200,000 a year had slumped to 60,000 (versus two million each for BMW and Mercedes). No one, though, expected something quite so … different.

To emphasise that departure, the big reveal was heralded by a short teaser that owed more to a fashion catwalk than four wheels. It’s a theme that will continue as the new Jaguar will be sold via dealerships that will not resemble traditional car showrooms but fashion emporiums.

In the advert, models stood in “out there”, brightly coloured outfits without a single car in sight. The New York Post said it was “the latest example of idiotic and woke corporate virtue signalling”. Elon Musk, a rival with his Tesla, sniped on his X network, asking Jaguar: “Do you sell cars?”

Bring it on was the attitude, in public anyway, of JLR’s creative director, Gerry McGovern. “Jaguar has no desire to be loved by everybody,” he said at the Miami launch. In response to criticism of the new exterior as “brutal”, McGovern also said that as a son of Coventry, heavily bombed in the Second World War and subsequently home to some modernist constructions, “brutalism is part of British culture”.

To a point, Gerry. Brutalism exists all right, but that does not mean it is popularly loved or even admired. Quite the contrary.

Mercedes sells two million vehicles each year compared to Jaguar's 60,000. Getty Images

What possessed those architects was that same pursuit of differentiation. There’s no doubt Jaguar had fallen into a rut. Its vehicles were heavily identified with the sheepskin coat-wearing macho, at home propping up a golf or rugby club bar. They were the sort who in days gone by would have puffed on a cigar and blown their smoke across their fellow drinkers. Jaguar was a symbol of aspiration once – the fact that the late John Prescott was known as “Two Jags” spoke volumes – but not so much today.

Adrian Mardell, JLR’s chief executive, says Jaguar is not trying to repackage past glories for existing fans. It’s about making a fresh start in appearance, power source and price to woo an entirely new type of customer: “It’s a total reinvention.”

Yes, but will it sell? That of course is the multi-billion-pound question. For a start, the 00 as seen is too big for Britain’s squeezed roads. It may be OK for the US, the largest market for JLR, and other international destinations, but not the home country.

Pure electric vehicles are no longer the rage as doubts persist about the EVs’ range, their weak second-hand value and the slow roll-out of charging points. Mardell shakes off the naysayers, claiming to have 16,000 expressions of interest already, which will soon rise to 20,000 and then 40,000.

Others, though, have been down this road and come unstuck – notably the Italians of Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Maserati. Not least either, Jaguar itself, previously with a series of new models. Always, Germany saw them off.

Will that be repeated? Mardell is doubling down, saying he’s secured the reaction he wanted by stoking controversy. That’s true, but those in favour appear to be heavily outnumbered by those against. He will maintain that provided there are enough in the former camp to buy the car, that does not matter. It’s the case as well that some purchasers will be attracted to the new Jaguar simply out of a desire to stand out.

They’re not fools, the LR side of JLR has produced some brilliant new designs. If they’re right, the new Jaguar will stand as a testament to their genius; fail, and it’s likely those former successes will be forgotten.

They must have nerves of steel. According to McGovern: “A faint heart never won, ever. It’s better to have tried and failed than not tried at all.” Brave words, undoubtedly. Brave but foolhardy, time will tell.