My thoughts in Conservative Home on the challenges facing Jaguar:
Click to read the full article by Sanjoy on ConHome
Extract:
It’s 2007 and Jaguar need an ad campaign for their new XF model. What they go with starts with a middle-aged bloke blasting said saloon down a race track. And finishes with him energetically swinging a young woman around a dancefloor. All backed by a sixties rock track. Zero marks for originality but this was a campaign that knew its (declining) target market.
Fast forward to 2024 and Jaguar isn’t launching a new model. It’s announcing there’ll be an announcement. In fact, it isn’t selling any cars at all until 2026 when a new all-electric range will emerge. But they have just produced a car-free advert. Which has achieved the near impossible by simultaneously outraging The Guardian and Nigel Farage.
Jaguar (sorry, jaGUar) has been through tough times before. This isn’t even their first rebrand. And whilst Jeremy Clarkson, a huge Jag fan, may well be emerging as the future voice of conservatism, this is still Con Home, not Top Gear – for now at least. So, let’s keep the brake horsepower discussion to a minimum and understand the fundamental challenges facing Jaguar – and the wider car industry.