How to destroy a brand!
I used to lust after one of these when I was in my teens - that big cat on the bonnet was like a magnet to me. Wouldn’t be seen dead in one now:
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From that article, Jaguar’s response: “‘Comparing Jaguar sales to 2024 is pointless as we are no longer producing vehicles in 2025 with low levels of retail inventory available. Jaguar’s rebranding is not related to a sales decline.’”
So, the headline might be a bit of a Faux News kinda thing…
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Did they shut down their auto business??? Seems odd as the name probably still has some brand value. I did read that they shut down their iPace model and sold the remaining inventory to Waymo, but I heard nothing about them stopping to produce cars altogether.
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Give me a beak. This has absolutely NOTHING to do with woke.
It has to do with a posterior ugly car redesign.
The design is so bad it ALMOST makes the Cybertruck look mediocre.
Look! It’s a refrigerator with a steering wheel!!
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Yes, it seems they did shut down builds of previous models, so nothing new built for this sales year. They are focusing on electric cars and retooling.
“…global branding experts appeared to be less than convinced, ridiculing the makeover and dubbing it a ‘dog’s dinner’.”
And it’s really tough when Elon takes you down:
“…billionaire Space X owner Musk turned the knife on X, simply asking Jaguar: ‘Do you sell cars?’”
The Daily Mail’s business model is to come up with the stupidest idea for an article humanly possible. And then find ways to make it even stupider.
Jaguar is basically on life support. The I-Pace was actually made by Magna Steyr in Austria and just branded as Jaguar.
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True, but if a rebrand involves your chief creative officer telling industry journalists that you have “not been sniffing the white stuff—this is real,” then you may have problems down the road.
Hallucinogenic sci-fi movie: Inside the rather bizarre relaunch of Jaguar
Hallucinogenic sci-fi movie: Inside the rather bizarre relaunch of Jaguar – Car Dealer Magazine?
Held at its Gaydon HQ, on Armistice Day, the event was hosted by Jaguar’s senior team including managing director Rawdon Glover and JLR’s chief creative officer Gerry McGovern…the event felt like a hallucinogenic sci-fi movie where the presenters were only allowed to speak in marketing babble…
Jaguar’s passionate team spoke for most of the day about how they plan to ‘delete ordinary’ and ‘live vivid’. Whatever that means…
Jaguar’s rebirth will be electric ‘always’, said the executives. It’s confident that by the time the first of three new cars arrives in 2026, the market will have ‘shifted significantly’ towards EVs. So much so, it’s betting the house on the trio it has in the pipeline that they will be enough to reinvigorate the brand.
DB2
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As offered here before, I suspect that automakers who have built their business model around continually escalating ATP and GP, looked at the prices and margins that Tesla used to post, and figured building EVs was easy money. Then Tesla started cutting prices, and accepting lower margins.
So, who among the industry “JC” class has the ability to admit they were wrong, and change course?
Farley surprised me, around last August, when Ford announced they were abandoning development of a three row, EV, SUV, and would retool Oakville Assembly to build Super Duty trucks, rather than EVs. But, then Farley announced they were dropping the Escape and Corsair at the end of this year, and retooling Louisville Assembly to build EVs. Of course, Ford has not said what EVs will be built in Louisville, nor a tentative date for recalling the workers and starting production. It could be he is simply killing the Escape, which will, automatically raise Ford’s ATP and GP, with him actually doing nothing.
Meanwhile, Mary appears to have bet the Cadillac brand on EVs.
Steve
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Farley, at Ford, as been spouting the same blather. Translation: we are going to stick some decals on the cars, and raise the price, a lot. I mentioned a few days ago, a recent road test of the Ford Maverick, in “Lobo” trim. The testers reported that, in spite of the $42,000 price, it still drove like a tin can.
Steve
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I still want one of these:
How did they get from the E-Type to where they are now?
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Seriously, what does “woke” have to do with anything?
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On some people’s lips it expresses bigotry in an attempt to be surrounded by like minded people.
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I’d say they have problems right now. Jaguar all but abandoned their tradition luxury sports sedan model and moved into more popular SUVs. That worked for a time, but it is a crowded field and sales have been declining since pre-covid.
I think the rebranding is a mistake. The brand is the part that is valuable. Porsche and Ferrari have eye popping margins. In the case of Porsche in particular in many cases they are selling re-badged VWs. But people are willing to pay for the brand. As long as you don’t get greedy that can work for luxury brands. That’s why Rolexes and Birken bags sell for higher prices on the aftermarket than they do from the retailer. They could charge more, but the scarcity and exclusivity is what makes them valuable.
IMO, Jaguar should quadruple down on the old brand. Promote it as a car that James Bond or Hugh Hefner would drive.
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The E-Jag convertible is in the pantheon of classic vehicles. Too bad the suits took over.
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Yep, I’m of a certain age and like leather, dials and the smell of hardwood on the dash. I don’t want electronic everything. The cars proposed by Jaguar remind me of FAB1 from The Thunderbirds:
I’m puzzled as to why Jaguar could not keep its existing style and look as well as going EV. This new look to me is bland and completely devoid of the Jaguar image. For sure, go EV. But keep that Jaguar look.
This is part of what I think Cadillac is doing well with its EV line up, and GM in general. The Lyric looks like a Caddy.
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Ayup. The “JCs” seem to think what people will pay for a “brand” regardless how pedestrian the underpinnings are, is infinite. Recently, the CEO of Ford Motor boasted of making Ford the “Porsche of off-road”. The chatter is thers is an AWD “off-road” Mustang in the works, that will sticker for $110,000.
Steve
Branding was not much of a problem. Doesn’t matter if that was suggested falsely as the problem.
The sales volume does not substantiate the assembly line. It did not substantiate it in 2024 or 2023.
The city of Miami just went woke and cancelled elections.
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article309776915.html
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