In Defence of The Jaguar 00
Jaguar’s making a massive pivot, it’s old logo mark has been turfed just in time to use a similar font to what Pepsi was using up until a few months ago. It’s repositioning itself as a high-priced luxury EV killing off the majority of it’s lineup to a single model, the F-Pace SUV. If you were a fan of Jaguar’s V6, V8 and V12 engines then I’m sorry to tell you, you won’t be seeing any new ones roll off the production line ever again.
It’ price points are set to jump significantly, double the price of its current cars. These changes are expected to burn a vast majority of its current customer base. They expect to only retain 10 to 15% of that base. That’s a scary prospect for any company to do such a large slash and burn. But it’s group, JLR, has been on the rocks these last five years, and they’ve only managed to turn a profit by making these exact kind of bold decisions. Range Rover went through a similar shakeup to start turning a profit again, selling fewer cars but at a higher price. Work smarter not harder. It’s now Jaguar’s turn to start performing. Their current course was untenable from a business perspective.
We’ll see their first new offering in late 2025, so there’s going to be a slight gap this year as they get their ducks in a row. To build hype for this they turned the internet upside down in anticipation with the first teasers of what their new look would be. Famously the campaign featured models strutting around in bright futuristic cuts. The internet suddenly acted like it had never seen a flavour teaser before. Even Elon Musk got in on the action to ask “Do you sell cars?” on X due to the complete lack of merchandise in the 30 second teaser. The pundits online decided that whatever this is it’s woke and they hate it. I’ve seen worse takes online, but not much worse.
A week or two later Jaguar revealed the Type 00 a reimagined design vision concept of where the car company is going. Its dramatic fastback silhouette, elongated bonet and 23-inch alloy wheels was paired with the slogan “Copy Nothing”. It certainly looks like nothing on the road today. It’s boldness perhaps only shared by the Tesla Truck. It looks sort of like a beefed up Batmobile. The interiors are sleek and bare, inspirational, but not practical, as is the way with concepts. Personally I think it looks great. This new keystone piece showing us the direction Jaguar wants to go in is promising.
Their inviting us for a wild ride, and I’m all buckled in.
