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Jaguar relaunches branding ahead of push upmarket

Nov 20, 2024 by admin

Jaguar has revealed the first part of its reinvention as electric-only brand with cars designed compete head-on with Bentley instead of BMW.

Overnight Jaguar revealed its new word mark and ‘leaper’ logo.

The word mark – with all letters except ‘G’ in lower-case – features Modernist-style round curves and sharp edges, representing a decisive break with past. This font will likely be used for showroom signage, advertising campaigns, and car branding.

There’s a new “maker’s mark” monogram featuring the company’s leaper as a silhouette against a field of horizontal lines, hinting the company will continue to use the long-standing logo to brand its vehicles.

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Jaguar also unveiled a new tag line, “Copy Nothing”, accompanied to short introductory video (below) that appeals more to a fashion show crowd than the pipe and slippers brigade that was once the brand’s core demographic.

Gerry McGovern, the company’s head of design, said in a media statement: “Jaguar has its roots in originality. Sir William Lyons, our founder, believed that ‘A Jaguar should be a copy of nothing’.”

He went on to say the brand is being rebuilt around the idea of “Exuberant Modernism”.

The brand has slowly been discontinuing its current models. Only the F-Pace crossover remains in production, with the mid-size crossover due to end its run in 2026.

In many parts of the world, including the UK, the brand has no new cars available. In Australia the F-Pace remains on sale with buyers able to configure new vehicles to their taste.

The next step in the brand’s reinvention takes place on December 3 at Miami Art Week, where Jaguar will reveal a concept car that points the way to the design of company’s three upcoming models, which include a large sedan, a large crossover, and a Porsche Taycan-rivalling four-door GT.

All three cars will be based on a new platform called JEA, which is being developed in house. The first cars are expected in showrooms across the world from 2026.

While there’s still much we don’t know about Jaguar’s new models, we do know they’ll be positioned further upmarket than in the recent past.

In an earlier interview Mr McGovern said, “A lower-volume, higher-price positioning is absolutely the right position for Jaguar today”.

When Jaguar was part of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group, the company began envisioning itself as a British BMW. Its march down market began with 1999’s retro S-Type, which shared its bones with the Lincoln LS, and to many hit its nadir with the 2001 X-Type, based on the contemporary Ford Mondeo.

The X-Type was the first Jaguar sold with front-wheel drive, a layout the brand was keen to avoid until the 2017 E-Pace crossover.

Jaguar first announced its plan to go all electric and jump further upmarket in 2021 during short reign of CEO Thierry Bolloré, who simultaneously cancelled the electric XJ months before its scheduled debut. An image of the cancelled XJ was leaked earlier this week.

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