Jaguar boss: we didn’t mean to alienate our owners
Here’s the inside story of how an auto company broke the internet – and the car that’s coming next
The number of people exposed to Jaguar’s “copy nothing” relaunch is approaching nearly one billion, or one-eighth of the planet’s population.
You know the story: last November, Jaguar released a colourful teaser video featuring striking-looking models seemingly on a post-apocalyptic catwalk. This announced Jag’s transformation into an electric brand that would “delete ordinary”, “break moulds” and “copy nothing”.
Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover stays impressively measured as he recalls to Auto Express “what began as a regular day in the office” ended up in a PR and marketing meltdown, with everyone from Tesla owner Elon Musk to rightwing British politician Nigel Farage giving their take and the story buzzing across the world’s TV channels and websites.
When the Type 00 concept previewing the design language was unveiled a few weeks later, “I spent the next day doing broadcast interviews, then scrolling through publications to see we had generated an [incredible] level of interest. Something like 4-500 million social media impressions [in a few weeks]. It was just crazy,” Glover recalls.
Here’s his take on the wildest chapter in Jaguar’s 90-year history.
1. The message got lost in a social media firestorm
“If there’s one thing that was perhaps lost in that early period before we unveiled the car was the sense of context,” reflects Glover. Jaguar issued its new typographic logo and reinvented 2D leaper badge along with the copy nothing video, then followed the automotive unveil playbook by teasing a few design details but holding back a complete look the Type 00 concept.
That left an information vacuum with limited informed commentary explaining why today’s Jaguar is failing, why new Jaguar will be electric, why it was targeting a more upmarket audience and why that necessitated a radical new design language.
“To a certain extent, we were only using social media channels to deliver that message and – obvious statement – social media is not a great channel for nuance and explanation. It's much more binary: I love it, I hate it, it’s this, it’s that. Delivering that message and taking people on that journey requires us to tell that story over and over again. That's my key learning from it.” And that’s why he’s talking to Auto Express.
2. We’re sorry we alienated our core customers
“We do need to create and attract a new client base,” explains Glover. They’ll be younger and more affluent than today’s Jaguar buyers, design-led and urban-centric.
“But what got lost is that we do care about our existing clients. Why would you not want to bring as many of your current base along as possible? I’ve been investing a lot of time bringing our existing fans, customers and classic enthusiasts along on the journey – it’s really important to us.”
Jaguar predicts its new electric line-up, launching with a four-door GT in late 2026, will typically cost around £110-£130,000. That will exclude about 85 per cent of current customers but there’s no reason why high-end F-type or performance SVR drivers can’t make the leap, Glover reckons.
He hopes some of them will feel comfortable forsaking six or eight-cylinder revs for electric high performance, arguing that exterior and interior design and a love of the brand are far more important to Jag’s target buyers than what’s under the bonnet. And given that most future owners will have multiple cars, they can still get their petrol fix from other models in the garage.
3. We’re comfortable selling 33,000 cars – and fewer
Jaguar is going into hibernation in markets around the world, having ceased UK sales last November and with the F-Pace SUV the only car still in production (until early 2026).
“Sun-setting” the old range – in Jaguar-speak – over many months caused global volume to slump to just 33,000 cars last year. But Glover argues there was no point continuing the loss-making current enterprise.
“Being single minded helps us focus on the new job. But we need to continue looking after existing customers and they’ll be able to get their car serviced, get any warranty [issues covered] and buy used cars.”
Annual volume will trickle to almost zero before growing again. But at the new six-figure price point, 33,000 cars will look like a high water mark. After all, that huge exposure has only converted to 35,000 people wanting to be kept informed – though the production car is still under wraps.
4. The old Jaguar wasn’t working, so it’s time for change
Considering Jaguar’s minimal commercial impact over the past 20 years, the response it triggered came out of the blue. The brand posted record sales of 181,000 cars in 2018 – a year 2.1 million BMWs were sold.
Jaguar’s attempts to close that gap in the volume premium segment failed, despite rolling out one of the world’s best EVs, a competitive big SUV and a halo sports car in the I-Pace, F-Type and F-Pace respectively, alongside new saloons. That’s why it’s rolling the dice to create outrageous-looking luxury electric cars, priced at double today’s typical £55,000 transaction price.
“Changing brand perception takes a long time. And it needs to be underpinned by a super-compelling product because marketing will only take you so far.”
“What’s great is we got people talking about Jaguar: for the last five, 10, 20 years nobody’s been talking about Jaguar,” says Glover ruefully. “We consciously wanted to get Jaguar into the – and I don’t like the phrase – cultural gulf stream. And the reaction showed there are lots and lots of people who are passionate about the brand – but mostly passionate about what we used to do as opposed to what we’re doing [next].”
5. The teaser video wasn’t intentionally woke, it reflects Jaguar’s design
The initial information vacuum created a space where Jaguar’s relaunch got sucked into the political culture wars, with right-wing social media users posting ‘go woke, go broke’.
“We definitely weren’t saying ‘we’re about diversity’,” explains Rawdon Glover. “The creative concepts and the individuals were chosen because they were very modern, striking and bold. And we presented a car that was very exuberant, bold and modern.”
The timing – just after Donald Trump’s resounding election victory with promises to roll back Diversity, Equality and Inclusion initiatives – helped foster the climate for a backlash. Especially when social media algorithms spread it around conservative echo chambers.
“If an individual [posts] ‘I really don't like this because it's woke’ then the algorithms just feed that. So a whole load of people commented about us who we certainly didn't set out to inflame or upset: they're not a target audience that will ever buy the car. But there’s a difference between Jaguar as a brand and JLR as a corporate entity, which is absolutely an advocate for DE&I.”
6. We’re launching with a Jaguar that’s purist, not populist
Jaguar will go public with the GT’s design in late 2025: “It's very consistent with the Type 00. Nobody's going to say: ‘hold on, what happened to this or that [design element]’,” promises Glover.
The managing director says Jaguar is starting with the four-door rather than a more popular crossover bodystyle because it’ll embody new Jaguar in its purest form. Yet it will still trace its roots back to the E-type 2+2.
That outrageously long bonnet and cab-backward design are straight out of the sixties, modernised with clean surfacing, the strikethrough grille and absent rear glass.
“The GT’s job is to make people think Jaguar can operate at these elevated price points. Vehicles that follow will have different jobs: there are absolutely bigger segments that we will get into.”
7. The GT: range and charging aspirations
Jaguar is chasing 430 miles of range on the EPA standard, the USA’s economy testing regime which is more demanding than Europe’s. The GT – in excess of five metres long and with a broad track – has space for a colossal battery. The similarly sized Mercedes-Benz EQS accommodates a 118kWh battery stack and travels around 390 miles (EPA); the Lucid Air is the only saloon that goes further.
“It will be the most aerodynamic Jaguar we’ve ever made,” claims Glover, enabled by its bespoke Jaguar Electric Architecture underpinnings and the optimised design, including a faired-in rear window as per the Polestar 4. And that’s despite rolling on 23-inch wheels that wouldn’t look out of place on a tractor.
Jaguar’s parent company Tata has launched a battery company called Agratas, which is developing a Nickel Manganese Cobalt (NMC) battery for JLR’s use. It is targeting best-in-class charging, thanks to the cell chemistry and the car’s high-voltage architecture, with the GT swallowing 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes.
8. We will not u-turn on Jaguar being purely electric
Rival car makers such as Porsche and Lotus are wavering on their electric ambitions but Glover promises Jaguar will stick to its guns: "No, we won't be putting a plug-in hybrid in that lovely long bonnet," he pledged.
“It’ll be 2027 when we’re delivering cars in earnest and a car’s life cycle is eight or nine years. Electric adoption is an S-curve and we’re definitely in the flatter part [now]. But by 2030 electric is going to be the dominant powertrain.
“To date, the industry hasn't as a rule delivered really exciting EVs…” And Rawdon Glover’s inference is that the GT is going to be different and exciting, a car that people buy because they want it not need it.
9. Why is the new Jaguar taking so long?
Although prototypes are testing now, manufacturing won’t begin until 2026. Glover says its introduction is not dependent on Agratas’ new Somerset battery factory being on stream, but bogged down by the sheer complexity of JLR’s ongoing overhaul of its industrial base.
Solihull is gearing up to build the electric Range Rover and Sport (and ultimately the Jags), electric motor production must ramp up in Wolverhampton, and the Halewood plant is being kitted out for the Velar replacement on a new electrified EMA architecture. “I don’t think JLR has ever had a more ambitious cycle plan in terms of number of nameplates, new technologies, new architectures. That’s the greater point of complexity rather than just the new gigafactory.”
10. The buying experience needs to feel pretty damn special
Glover’s team is developing the new Jaguar retail experience and the first UK store will be in Knightsbridge, London; others in Paris and Shanghai are progressing too. Prospects can expect a luxurious lounge feel, similar to that experienced by Autobiography and SV customers in a Range Rover Studio, with food and drinks created by a Michelin-starred chef.
Range Rover does a spectacular multimedia handover, with lights and music plus animations superimposed on customer cars hidden beneath a cloth. “How do we elevate the experience?” asks Glover. “With the configurator there are some really interesting things we can do with Virtual Reality to bring [to life] the vehicle a client has chosen. We don’t want somebody the other side of a desk transacting.”
A version of this will be rolled out to all Jaguar retailers, in a network about a quarter of the size of old Jaguar’s.
11. New Jaguar is not for Nigel Farage
Brexit-supporting British MP Nigel Farage shared his take shortly after the copy nothing video broke, claiming Jaguar would be bust within two years. Will Jaguar?
“I obviously don’t think so,” Glover chuckles. “But everyone has their opinion, right?”
“Some people are going to get the new Jaguar straight away. For others it will take them time because it’s not a literal translation of [old] Jaguar. And for some people it absolutely won’t be for them. And if it’s not for Nigel, that’s okay.”
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