Much has been said, both online and on social media, about the advert Jaguar Cars launched last year that was entitled “Copy Nothing”. I get what they were trying to achieve, in copying nothing from the old or existing brand, wiping the slate clean, and creating a new car brand based around an EV power plant.
However, they have strong competition from the Chinese brands already doing this in this field, BYD being a strong favourite, and don’t forget the Tesla from the USA, and Polestar a new European EV brand. As this is a motoring blog, we will not get into the geopolitics of other countries nor individuals or ownership.
The Competition
With such strong competition from other well established EV brands, I am not sure how Jaguar are going to launch this car. I understand that they will launch at a higher price point, but, surely that limits how many potential clients there will be. Jaguar have always been a quality brand at a lower price than say Bentley. Oh wait, I am harping back to yesteryear, and they are copying nothing.
Brand Loyalty
So lets harp back to a previous yesteryear for a moment. My late father, a keen petrol head, as was his father before him, my grandfather. My father had a number of Jaguars, from the 1960’s onwards. My earliest fond memories was a Mk X, and a 420G, and going on holiday to the Isle of Man in a “Jag”. Later, a number of XJ6’s and then a S type. My brother owned the supercharged AJ-V8. I even drove the XJ6’s solo on a private farm on a regular basis when I was 12 to 15 years of age. Quite a trusting father. So with a direct first hand exposure to the brand, this left a growing up impression of walnut and the smell of leather, but, from a performance prospective, space and grace, and effortless speed.
Surely, where does this leave existing regular Jaguar clients? They will have to re-evaluate where they are going in order to purchase their next car. If they don’t like electric, then Jaguar have just handed these clients straight over to the competition at Crewe, or perhaps competitors from Germany or the Far East.
Product Offering
Well in copying nothing, they need to have a tried and tested car that is pretty, and at the right price, a sweet spot between affordability, and making enough in volume. They also need to maintain the Jaguar reliability, space, grace and performance.
The car I saw in the Copy Nothing advert, known as the Type “00”, a certain film franchise may object to this name, looked far too boxy and simply not pretty, it didn’t inspire me to think wow, that looks good. Frankly it looked a little more Rolls Royce like to me with the big front grill and large wheels. Maybe I missed the design cues, but, there is already an established brand that would be very hard to compete against at that heady height of a price point. Again, I couldn’t understand where Jaguar are heading given the competition.
EV
Having an EV power plant for the car is a good thing, as it meets all the new emission laws, and gives instant silent vibration free power to this large car, a nod perhaps to the space and pace of previous Jaguars. And EV fans will like that aspect. However, they need to think about offering a hybrid solution for those drivers not yet ready to make the switch to full EV only.
Opinion
In my opinion, I think Jaguar have lost their way a little. In order to afford a move like this, I think it better to be a gradual progression, and have a generation of Jaguars that would bring existing clientele along the way in order to fund the product offering and gradual brand change. The picture of the proposed offering is far from pretty, and of a pimp mobile colour that would inspire existing clients to purchase from Crewe instead. A real pity, as being brought up on “Jags” in the family, I would like to see the brand continue and grow.
Mark Smith
“The Rambling Motorist”
Artwork: Jaguar Cars press releases.