“Jaguar has no desire to be loved by everybody,” said Gerry McGovern as he strode across the stage on a slightly chilly evening in Miami last week. It was a bold statement from Jaguar Land Rover’s creative director, but it summed up the aura around the relaunch of one of the UK’s most famous brands.
Even before the furore over the advert, “the brand was on a steady road to nowhere,” argues Matthias Schmidt, founder of industry intelligence firm Schmidt Automotive Research. The traditional Jaguar demographic was slowly being diluted through natural attrition and customers jumping ship to other brands.
So, the publicity that the ad and the launch have drawn appear to have been welcomed within the business. As Gerry McGovern drily quipped from the stage: “We’re delighted to have your attention.”
Arguably Jaguar’s greatest moment, however, came with the launch of the E-Type in 1961, which came with 150mph performance, and movie-star cachet. It was the car to be seen in and gave the Jaguar badge a lustre that lasted for decades.
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