Why Jaguar's rebrand is doomed

Jaguar’s disastrous makeover has left many people wondering if it isn’t April Fool’s Day. It’s not, of course. After 89 years of success with pale, stale males, Jaguar – which is relaunching as an electric-only brand – has decided a new clientele is in order.

Jaguar is gambling on attracting a younger, urban Progressive customer

Its logo, written as JaGUar, ‘seamlessly blend(s) upper and lower case characters in visual harmony’, the company claims. Jaguar’s managing director, Rawdon Glover – who gives his pronouns on LinkedIn as ‘he/him’ – declared that ‘the time for us to take small, conservative steps has gone’. Jaguar wants new customers, who will ‘be younger than before, affluent, urban, looking for exclusivity’. One car journalist present at the rebrand launch this week likened the experience to being ‘trapped in a cult’s conference’.

Jaguar’s rebrand is similar in tone to a report by an influential French left-wing think-tank called Terra Nova in 2011. Like