Hot Take: How Jaguar F**ked Up

So, I’m sure you’ve noticed that Jaguar recently dropped a major rebrand. And I have thoughts. Strong ones. From where I’m sitting, this wasn’t just a swing and a miss. It was a swing into an entirely different sport. The campaign felt more like a teaser for a new trendy fashion startup than a bold repositioning for a legacy luxury car brand. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I’d assume Jaguar was about to launch a limited-edition clothing line called “Silence.”

Here’s the thing: Jaguar isn’t just some quirky little underdog brand trying to find its voice. It’s in the heavyweight category, competing with giants like BMW, Mercedes, and Audi. These brands own their space. They’re loud, confident, and aspirational. Jaguar, by contrast, has often played the quiet card, sleek and refined, yes, but rarely front of mind. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, unless you're trying to stay relevant in a hyper-competitive market. Which they are. Or at least should be.

And that’s where this rebrand lost me.

They didn’t lean into legacy. They didn’t double down on prestige. They went minimalist and mysterious, stripping the identity down to a whisper when they needed a roar. The new logo was sleek, but by no means was it memorable in the slightest. It’s giving a feel of a boutique wellness brand, not a British performance powerhouse. And don’t even get me started on the font; it looks like it belongs on the homepage of a brand-new tech company or the launch of a new Apple product. 

Now let’s talk about the launch ad. Or, more accurately, the abstract fever dream that left most of the internet asking, “Wait… do they still make cars?” The visuals were dramatic, but vague. The tone? Almost meditative. Cars? Barely in frame. It was high concept, low clarity, and the overall takeaway felt more like a perfume commercial than a car brand ad. If you landed on Jaguar’s website that day, you’d genuinely question whether they were still in the automotive business or pivoting to high-end yoga mats.

And then came the backlash.

The usual anti-woke critics showed up, of course, but so did confused longtime fans. People who grew up associating Jaguar with luxury

and performance now found themselves staring down a brand that seemed more interested in mood lighting than horsepower. The core question on everyone’s mind: Who is this for?

Because it definitely wasn’t for their traditional buyer (i.e., the country club set with vintage leather driving gloves), and it wasn’t for Gen Z either, who, let’s be honest, probably didn’t know Jaguar still made cars to begin with. It felt like a brand trying to impress an audience that had already swiped left.

What baffles me is the why. Was there no copy testing? No focus groups? No conversations with actual Jaguar owners? A rebrand should clarify a brand’s value, not dilute it. What we got instead was a whole lot of aesthetic, but very little substance. And in a category built on image and identity, that’s a serious misstep.

And here’s the kicker: I want Jaguar to win. I love brand strategy. I nerd out over campaigns, fonts, and positioning lines. I believe in reinvention when it’s done right. But this felt like a branding exercise that forgot the product it was selling.

To their credit, people are talking about Jaguar again. But buzz without clarity isn’t strategy. It’s noise. I truly hope the next chapter brings more focus, and fewer glitter fonts.

Jaguar, if you’re reading this: put the car back in the car commercial.

Thanks.