The New Jaguar Is ‘All About Exuberance’

Jaguar’s Managing Director, Rawdon Glover, recently stated that the company has come to grips with the fact that most customers will take their business elsewhere following the brand’s reinvention. He estimates as many as 85% of buyers won’t return to purchase the Type 00 when it arrives in production guise later this year. Why? Because the Tata Motors-owned company is undergoing a complete transformation, one that will cater to a different crowd.

It’s already known that prices will rise into six-figure territory as the company aims to target wealthier buyers with radically styled EVs. We’re now learning more about what the new Jaguar will represent in the electric era. Martin Limpert, Global Managing Director of the Range Rover sub-brand within the same automotive conglomerate, described the Jaguar of tomorrow in an interview with Australian magazine CarExpert:

“Jaguar is all about exuberance, modernism, really progressive… an environment where you have progressive people, arts, modern music, etc. So again, talking to partly to a younger audience, more modernist and more expressive orientated audiences.”

When Jaguar introduced its new brand identity last November, it mentioned “Exuberant Modernism,” describing it as “imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless.” While the general impression is that little of the old Jaguar will remain, design boss Gerry McGovern insists the new direction is about “returning to the values that once made it so loved, but making it relevant for a contemporary audience. We are creating Jaguar for the future, restoring its status as a brand that enriches the lives of our clients and the Jaguar community.”

From what we’ve seen so far, the new direction is a stark departure from the “Grace, Space, Pace” slogan that debuted in the 1960s. But that’s because Jaguar, as we knew it, is gone. Combustion engines are pretty much history, along with the brand’s decades-long ambition to compete with BMW and its peers. As for who will buy the Type 00, Glover said it won’t be customers focused on the powertrain. People who can afford to spend over $100,000 on the extravagant grand tourer typically “buy cars for their design and interior. Powertrain is about 13^th on the list.”

While some of us are still willing to give Jaguar a chance, others are skeptical about the brand’s future in this bold new era. Meanwhile, disregard the noise about sales grinding to a halt because production of all models except the F-Pace has ended. That crossover is on its way out, too. The Type 00 signals the firm’s 180-degree turn, with an SUV likely in the pipeline to rival Bentley’s first EV.