Roaring back to relevance?

Jaguar’s latest marketing campaign back in November was greeted with fury.

An abstract advert depicting what appeared to be individuals in unusual costumes strutting around a pink moon had bred a sheer furore from motor enthusiasts. 

Anger was directed not only to a perceived move towards “Wokeism”, but grew into an accusation of betrayal towards Jaguar’s unique British heritage in the luxury echelon of the motor industry. 

What many found exceedingly obscene, was the complete lack of any actual motor vehicles in the advert. 

Since then however, JaGUar (the ‘g’ and the ‘u’ are now capitalised in their latest logo) have unveiled their prototype Type 00 in Paris and trotted around its environs with celebrity actor Barry Keoghan at the reins. 

Vivid in its “London Blue” paint job, the electric conceptual virtually purred its way through hordes of photographers there for Paris fashion week - resplendent in its futuristic, sleek cut. It looked like something out of the movie “Tron”, or other titles inspired by the cyberpunk universe. Reception-wise, aggressive criticism subsided into something more inquisitive.

JaGUar has certainly succeeded in its new brand motto of “Copy Nothing”. 

The luxury space above middle-market electric sedans like the Tesla Model 3 is relatively untraversed. 

What’s more, is that Rawdon Glover, Marketing Director of the brand, was expecting - and hoping - for such frivolous backlash and attention. 

So what is JaGUar’s game?

Before its reinvention as a Cyberpunk exotic, Jaguar was perilously perched in a precarious position in the luxury car market. 

Faced with the likes of Mercedes and Porsche, with their firm brand loyalty and German reputation of reliability to boot, the car was losing its prestigious claws. 

High depreciation rates restricted it from standing on the podium as a luxury offering for successful young salarymen. Instead, it was being relegated to the used car market, a valid option for older, established middle-class types who were eager to cling to its rapidly diminishing aura of British motor heritage. 

New Labour figurehead John Prescott became infamous for using two Jaguars back in the 2000s - virtually an oxymoron for a Labour politician who carried the reputation of a working-class ‘hero’. 

The name association has certainly bought a particular old English arrogance. “I have a Jaaag,” has been one of car enthusiast Jeremy Clarkson’s favourite anecdotes for the brand. Indeed, he embodies Jaguar’s past target market pretty well. Older British consumers, generally from its rural districts, have been the most outspoken opponents of its reinvigoration. 

If you wanted a definitive representation of the brand’s (now shed) skin, then the ex-member of parliament and classical Conservative Jacob-Rees Mogg would be the pinnacle. Heckled by an anti-Brexit protestor whilst driving around town in a Jaguar XJL back in Summer 2024, he replied with “Rule Britannia” before cruising away as the patriotic tune emanated from his windows. 

Perhaps it was a premonition of what was to come; that the car brand would ruthlessly strip away its Conservative identity to be reborn anew as a “toaster oven” as respondents on topgear.com have called it.

There are immediate practical reasons why Jaguar may have wanted to launch such an uncompromising rehaul of its business strategy. 

Part of its struggle against German competitors has been a failure to adapt to the accelerating adoption of electric vehicles, like BMW’s ‘i’ series offerings. Then there is China’s formidable BYD (see our article ‘Build Your Dreams? Or Crush Tesla’s’), which has already been creating trouble for the traditional EV market leader, Tesla.

According to Fortune Business Insights, the global EV market is projected to triple in size to about 1891.08 billion USD by 2032. 

Jaguar naturally wants a slice of this pie before it’s too late and its German rivals have mobilised. Yet it will not do this by replicating the premium-market saloons of BYD’s Seal or Tesla’s Model 3 that have found their way into the hands of America’s middle classes.

Who will Jaguar peddle its Type 00 evolutions to? Note who they chose to showcase the car at the Paris Fashion Week - as well as the significance in unveiling the prototype amid a fashion event. 

Irish actor Barry Keoghan is well known amongst ‘Gen Z’, having grown to fame from his central role in the 2023 comedy thriller ‘Saltburn’. He is the contemporary sort of celebrity ready-made to show up at the peacock-feather displaying fest of Paris Fashion Week. By extension then, so was the car. 

The Type 00’s electric engine hummed and surfed along the Parisian street as if it were a Balenciaga model haughtily strutting the runway in a pair of the brand’s grotesque shoes. Except the car was in pristine condition, released from futuristic incubation in the depths of Jaguar’s design department. 

In any case, it wasn’t intended to woo motorhead enthusiasts. Jaguar already expects that only 10-15% of its former customers will remain loyal in its future-forward transition.

This puzzle is nearly complete. Who will replace the ranks of JaGUar’s target market? Those who have reacted positively following the prototype unveiling, aside from marketing watchdogs (who have been in no way unified in response to the campaign), all vaguely shared similar characteristics. 

They are undoubtedly the traits which the likes of right-wingers such as Nigel Farage (who delivered the damning verdict that Jaguar would “go bust” on GB News back in November) will be quick to lambast. These are individuals who, most practically, are far younger than Jaguar’s past audience. 

They appreciate the efficiency and environmental benefits of owning an electric car. They are forward-thinking and progressive, in no way perturbed by the discarding of past British heritage gone by. 

These urban professionals, affluent and desiring flash rides to flaunt their tech or arts-earned wealth, are unequivocally attracted by a luxury vehicle straight out of the cyberpunk universe that simultaneously affirms their values of diverse avant-gardism. Jaguar’s future customers will want to embody this, in what the brand has coined as “Exuberant Modernism”. Let’s call them the ‘progressive bourgeoisie'.

Jaguar has marked a departure from the fustiness of the Jeremy Clarksons, Jacob Rees-Moggs and John ‘Two-Jag’ Prescotts who formed the cornerstones of its target audience back in the day. It has done this willingly, unafraid of upsetting Nigel Farage, whom Rawdon Glover admitted “was not our core customer” in response to the vitriol directed at the brand in November. 

Nor will those embracing Jaguar’s transformation of ‘exuberant modernity’ care. Glover’s marketing campaign has undeniably been a gamble, with over a century of brand history at stake. 

Yet with its foot on the electric accelerator, Jaguar appears to have run over its initial severe backlash and switched lanes from its previous route towards used car market stagnation.

It's new destination? Paris Fashion Week. The progressive bourgeoisie needs a ride, and they don’t exactly care if there’s an icon of a cat on the bonnet.