• Jaguar's rebrand has been controversial — but its rollout might also be a genius move.
• Advertising veterans told Business Insider the strategy could help mark a new era for the brand.
• Still, not everyone was convinced: Other marketing experts said Jag's final product might disappoint.

Jaguar has generated a lot of buzz since unveiling its rebranding campaign, culminating this week with the release of a conceptual design for its next generation of electric vehicles.

When the luxury British carmaker debuted its redesigned logo, brand philosophy, and promotional video last month, it stirred up controversy on social media. Some conservative personalities argued that the new aesthetic abandoned Jaguar's heritage and pushed into "woke" politics, while others questioned why the promo video didn't feature any cars.

That first phase of Jaguar's rebrand had some advertising veterans divided on whether the strategy was a smart move for the iconic brand.

And that division carried through to Jag's latest update on Monday, which finally paired images of cars with its "exuberant modernism" vision. Now that concept cars are connected to the initial rebranding video, some marketing professionals are praising Jaguar's "brilliant" strategy — while others remain less convinced.

"Jaguar's paced unveiling is a brilliant strategy to keep people talking and interested in a highly competitive auto marketplace," Jim Heininger, the founder and principal of the Chicago firm The Rebranding Experts, told Business Insider after seeing the conceptual car rollout.

"This is a master class in what rebranding can accomplish for a company — a new forward-facing product and brand, clearly designed for its new customer persona, that everyone is talking about," he said.

Heininger — whose 30-year career includes work for P&G, McDonald's, and Anheuser-Busch — argued that Jaguar set high expectations when it debuted its controversial rebrand last month.

He said the concept car unveiling delivered on those expectations. The car effectively signals the company's "boldly modernistic" vision and "departure from the past," he said. The colors, design shapes, and new logo "feel right when you see it on the concept car."

Greg Andersen, the CEO of the Omaha, Nebraska, creative agency Bailey Lauerman, also lauded Jag's marketing strategy.

"What exceeds expectations is the breadth and depth of the Jaguar brand vision," said Anderson, who's worked for brands such as Google, Levi's, Burberry, and Axe before joining Bailey Lauerman.

"They have revealed much more than a concept car," he said. "It seems it is the beginning of the story of the Jaguar brand vision, which they can easily chapter out and stretch to the production model reveal."

But looking to the future, Andersen said the company's strategy has to remain well-executed when it comes time to reveal its new EV, which the company has said it expects to happen in late 2025 before hitting showrooms in 2026.

"I think the biggest risk for them now is making sure the production model lives up to the promise and doesn't suffer death by a thousand cuts," Andersen told BI. "Rolling out an unapologetic, future-facing brand along with a marginally better car might not go so well."

The proof of success will be in the production model

Still, not all of the ad veterans who spoke to BI had so much praise for Jaguar and its rebranding rollout.

Christos Joannides, the founder and creative director of the luxury branding agency Flat 6 Concepts in Los Angeles, told Business Insider that Jaguar's initial rebranding announcement did too much all at once, "overwhelming and confusing" the carmaker's long-standing audience.

And, in releasing its concept car this week, Jaguar didn't do enough to ground its new ethos in reality, Joannides said.

Joannides, who's worked with Jaguar competitors like Maserati and Lotus, argued that the concept car's features, like the rear with no window and the brass-toned divider running through the middle of the cabin, are impractical and bizarre.

"By showcasing a production model with more realistic features, Jaguar could have conveyed its vision more effectively and provided tangible evidence of its direction," Joannides said. "As it stands, the concept car feels superficial and gimmicky, like a desperate attempt to be different without any real substance or coherent strategy."

Joannides said that while Jaguar's initial teaser video was "certainly audacious," the final product would be what matters.

Richard Brandon Taylor, the founder and CEO of the UK-based brand consultancy firm Brandon, told BI that while Jaguar's rebrand was a smart play in some ways because it got everyone talking, there's still a significant period of time before the first production model comes out to try to maintain that buzz.

"Why they've left a year between concept and car is beyond me — that is a dangerous strategy to play," said Taylor, who's worked with brands like Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, and Kimberly-Clark.

Sunny Bonnell, the cofounder and CEO of the strategic branding firm Motto, said that to hold the audience's attention until the new cars hit the market, Jaguar needs to dive deeper into the "why" behind the rebrand.

"What does 'Copy Nothing' mean in practice?" said Bonnell, who's worked with brands like Google and Virgin. "How will it shape the driving experience, not just the look?" To do that, Jaguar needs a storytelling narrative, she said.

Jaguar's next steps in its rebranding rollout

It's unclear which specific design elements of the new concept will be implemented in Jaguar's forthcoming electric-vehicle models. Jaguar said its concept car was "an indicator of design philosophy and intent for the coming new vehicles," which are expected to be available for purchase sometime in 2026.

The new EV model will use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging, the company said.

And the new EVs are expected to be much more upscale than previous Jags. Though Jaguar has not confirmed a price range, Wired reported, without citing a source, that the new Jag could cost at least $127,000 — a significant increase from current average price of around $70,000.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," Rawdon Glover, Jaguar's managing director, said of Monday's concept debut.

Update: December 5, 2024 — This story has been updated with comments from two additional marketing veterans.

• Jaguar has unveiled a concept car as part of its newly rebranded identity.
• Its rebrand stirred controversy for not including any cars — and some argued it was "woke."
• Jaguar said it would reveal a new electric model in late 2025 as part of its all-electric future.

Jaguar unveiled a design concept on Monday for its next generation of electric vehicles — finally pairing an image of a car with its "exuberant modernism" rebranding campaign.

Jaguar's rebrand had drawn fierce criticism over the past few weeks from some who said it was "woke" for featuring diverse models and bright colors. The campaign also didn't feature any cars.

Now, the luxury British carmaker has filled in some of the blanks regarding its new identity by revealing a concept car at Miami Art Week.

The exterior of the concept car — dubbed "Type 00" for zero tailpipe emissions and its status as car zero in the brand's new lineage — features butterfly doors, a glassless rear tailgate, and a panoramic roof.

It's conceptualized in two colors — "Miami Pink," honoring the pastel art deco architecture of the city in which it was unveiled, and "London Blue," inspired by the Opalescent Silver Blue of the 1960s and in honor of the company's British roots, Jaguar said in a statement.

"Type 00 commands attention, like all the best Jaguars of the past," Jaguar's chief exterior designer, Constantino Segui Gilabert, said in the statement. "It is a dramatic presence, channeling a unique spirit of British creativity and originality. It celebrates art and embodies the essence of Exuberant Modernism."

The Jag's exterior design also showcases the redesigned Jaguar "leaper" mark laser-etched into brass ingots that open up to reveal rear-facing cameras when needed.

On the inside, three brass lines run the length of the interior — one on each door and one straight down the middle of the cabin.

Floating instrument panels mark either side of the middle brass line, which is supported by a pedestal of travertine stone, as are the floating seats.

A woven wool-blend fabric surrounds the two seats, sound bar, and cabin floor.

"Just as on the outside, deployable technologies are a hallmark of the interior," Jaguar's chief interior designer, Tom Holden, said in the statement. "Screens glide silently and theatrically from the dashboard, while powered stowage areas slide open softly on demand, revealing hidden splashes of exuberant color."

It's not clear which specific design elements of the new concept will end up being implemented in Jaguar's forthcoming electric vehicle models. Jaguar said Type 00 was meant as "an indicator of design philosophy and intent for the coming new vehicles."

The brand announced in 2021 that it would be moving to all-electric vehicles. The first model of its new lineup — an electric four-door — will be unveiled in late 2025, the company said Monday.

It said the model would use dedicated Jaguar Electric Architecture, have a projected driving range of up to 430 miles on a single charge, and be able to add up to 200 miles of range after 15 minutes of rapid charging.

With the new vehicles expected to become available in 2026, the company is already phasing out production of its internal-combustion-engine cars, converting its Halewood, England, factory to all-electric production and ceasing sales of new cars in the UK.

In preparation for its EV lineup launch, Jaguar debuted its rebranding campaign in November. It included an updated typeface for its "Jaguar" logo, a redesign of the leaping jaguar mark, and a colorful new video advertisement that showed models clad in high fashion and had no cars in sight.

The promo video caught a lot of flak on social media, on late-night TV, and in the media for not featuring any cars, while some conservative personalities accused the company of abandoning its history and pushing into "woke" politics. Elon Musk even weighed in.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Jaguar's managing director, Rawdon Glover, defended the rebrand, saying that the campaign's intended message was lost "in a blaze of intolerance" and that the controversial promo video wasn't meant to be a "woke" statement.

The revamp of the iconic brand — and chosen vehicle of Britain's royal family and prime ministers — also included an introduction to its new design philosophy of "exuberant modernism," which the company defined as "imaginative, bold, and artistic at every touchpoint."

Some marketing and rebranding experts have heavily criticized Jaguar's new identity.

One told Business Insider the rebrand was "bonkers," and another said he wasn't convinced the company was making the right statement.

Still, others were more positive, with one advertising expert saying the rebranding rollout had been relatively successful and another saying it was a "significant disruption" that could eventually work for the company.

It's not just the shift in Jaguar's brand identity that has gotten marketers talking — it's also the apparent pivot in the audience base the company is now trying to target.

As part of the brand's positioning, the newly announced Jags are expected to be significantly more upmarket than the ones being phased out. Car and Driver previously reported that the brand, which is owned by India's Tata Motors, was looking toward Range Rover, its corporate cousin, as inspiration for where it wants to be. The magazine cited a Range Rover that costs about $400,000; most Jaguar models for 2024 had list prices of about $50,000 to $80,000.

"We have forged a fearlessly creative new character for Jaguar that is true to the DNA of the brand but future-facing, relevant, and one that really stands out," Glover said of Monday's concept debut.