What actually went wrong at Jaguar

An employee fixes a badge to the front grille of a Jaguar F-type. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg/Getty Images via CNN Newsource)

NEW YORK — Nearly a year ago, Jaguar unveiled a refreshed brand identity that was supposed to usher in its future. So far, it’s been mostly a headache.

The 102-year-old luxury automaker, once a head-to-head competitor with brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, had been plagued with problems even before the advertising campaign was released, including leadership changes, declining sales amid a stale lineup and stiff competition from the likes of both German luxury carmakers as well as relative upstarts like Tesla.

Now it can add two more problems: misleading headlines about its sales, and outrage from the political right — most notably the U.S. president.

On Monday, President Donald Trump trashed Jaguar for what he called a “stupid” and “seriously WOKE” ad campaign last year, which featured an avant-garde commercial that featured slogans such as “live vivid,” and what appeared to be gender-fluid models, but zero images of its cars or even concepts of a car.

“Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad,” quipped Trump on Truth Social. “The market cap destruction has been unprecedented with BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SO FOOLISHLY LOST.”

But the reality is different.

Jaguar Land Rover has been owned by Tata Motors since 2008, when the Indian company bought it from Ford, which means Jaguar doesn’t have a market cap. And Tata itself is doing fine as a massive multinational conglomerate with a wide variety of operations worth about US$28 billion.

Plus, Jaguar’s problems are more fundamental. Although most legacy automakers have tried to manage a smooth transition to fully electric propulsion, Jaguar simply ceased making cars entirely in 2024 pulling all of its products off the market as it tries to reinvent itself as an electric vehicle maker.

But that’s enough to establish a narrative in the minds of many. Headlines swirled last month that Jaguar’s sales across Europe were down 97.5 per cent year-over-year in April, citing data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. That makes sense given Jaguar stopped manufacturing cars but the news was enough to draw the wrath of Trump and some conservatives.

Shortly after the ad was released, Jaguar revealed its Type 00 concept car at Miami Art Week — notably, not at a traditional automotive show. While the concept isn’t intended for production, it is meant to show Jaguar’s general future design direction.

Jaguar didn’t respond to a question from CNN about when it will start production again.

Last week, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Adrian Mardell announced he was stepping down after 35 years with the brand. He had a largely successful stint, having helped eliminate billions of dollars of debt and with JLR reporting its ninth consecutive profitable quarter in January on the back of strong SUV sales.

Tata Motors on Monday named P.B. Balaji, currently the company’s chief financial officer, as Jaguar Land Rover’s new CEO. He begins in November.

By Jordan Valinsky, CNN