‘Killed a British icon’: Jaguar’s modernist rebrand sparks anger and mockery online

Iconic British car brand Jaguar is facing intense mockery over its new rebrand.

The company’s promotional video, posted on X and Instagram, shows models dressed in futuristic brightly colored outfits walking in an alien-like landscape. Phrases including “Break Moulds,” “Create exuberant,” and “Copy nothing” appear on-screen as the figures pose next to pink rocks.

The brand’s new, modernist logo then appears on screen.

On X (formerly Twitter), numerous viewers mocked the advert, pointing out that no cars featured in the video.

“What a joke,” one person wrote. “Whoever agreed to this needs to know they’ve just killed a British icon.”

“Do you sell cars?” Tesla founder Elon Musk added.

“You just advertised to less than 2% of the population of the planet,” America’s Next Top Model season one winner, Adrienne Curry, wrote. “I am sure that is really going to work out well for you. Your brand used to be so sexy and sleek. This is a joke.”

In the comments of Jaguar’s promo on Instagram, many viewers urged the brand to change revert back to its traditional branding and iconography using the leaping jaguar cat.

“You guys should go back to what made Jaguar great. Build classy British cars that are so unique and beautiful that no one cares they are unreliable. That’s the formula!” one person commented.

“Imagine being THIS out of touch with what your brand is that you decide something like this tragic piece of marketing will land well. Whole marketing & executive team needs to go play in traffic!” another wrote.

According to a press release from Jaguar, its “transformation is defined by Exuberant Modernism, a creative philosophy that underpins all aspects of the new Jaguar brand world.”

“Jaguar has its roots in originality. Sir William Lyons, our founder, believed that ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing,’” the chief creative officer of Jaguar Land Rover, Gerry McGovern, said. “Our vision for Jaguar today is informed by this philosophy. New Jaguar is a brand built around Exuberant Modernism. It is imaginative, bold and artistic at every touchpoint. It is unique and fearless.”

Some of the changes with the rebrand include an upgrade to Jaguar’s logo, “demonstrating the unexpected by seamlessly blending upper and lowercase characters in visual harmony,” according to the press release. The brand will also be making use of “exuberant colors” and launching a “newly reimagined Jaguar ‘leaper’” logo, which is Jaguar’s “precious mark of provenance.”

The full rebrand is slated to launch December 2 during the Miami Art Week, when the company will unveil a new electric GT model.

Jaguar has not sold new cars to the general public for more than a year, which managing director Rawdon Glover said was “intentional,” in order to create a barrier between the old models and the new-look Jaguars.

“We need to change people’s perceptions of what Jaguar stands for. And that’s not a straightforward, easy thing to do. So having a fire break in between old and new is, actually, very helpful,” he explained.