Think the radical Jaguar Type 00 is a huge mistake? The internet disagrees
Jaguar’s controversial rebrand has ruffled a few feathers, but dismiss it at your peril – the hype is real
Late last year, Jaguar pulled the covers off its radical Type 00 concept car, and with it, a controversial rebrand that sent shockwaves through the automotive industry. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about.
Plenty of haters were quick to dismiss the campaign as a trashy marketing gimmick, many of whom took to the comments’ section of the Auto Express website. One loyal reader branded it “fully woke”, with another calling it “meaningless nonsense”. A particularly eloquent respondent stated: “Jaguar is emblematic of the ridiculous world we now live in; everything targeted at absurdly wealthy people with room-temperature IQs”.
Yet Jaguar maintained its focus and showed no signs of faltering – even in the wake of the most costly cyber attack in British history, and news just yesterday that its design chief Gerry McGovern had unexpectedly left the business with little or no notice.
As a statement of intent and to remind us that plans are progressing, the maker rolled out the Type 00 in front of the prestigious Chancery Rosewood hotel in central London this week – and we were among the first to see it in the metal. Looking resplendent in ‘London Red’, the new satin shade stopped passers-by in their tracks; smartphones snapping, we overheard one say: “I’ve never seen a Ferrari look so insignificant” – referring to the sparkling F8 Tributo that’d been relegated to an on-street parking spot down the street.
Not a bad word was said in the 20 minutes we were standing alongside it. Within 24 hours, more than 600,000 people had viewed our 30-second social video on Instagram, with almost 5,000 comments added to the thread. Sure, not all of them were positive, but the appetite for the Jaguar rebrand was undeniable. Social media had spoken: if it’s conversation that JLR is looking for, the Type 00 absolutely nails its brief.
Jaguar UK’s brand director, Santino Pietrosanti, was keen to reiterate the maker’s “copy nothing” motto, referencing models of the past including the original SS, as well as icons like the XJS and XJ220. As he acknowledged: even the F-Pace SUV moved the needle when it shot to a five-star Auto Express road-test verdict back in 2016.
Lest we forget: Jaguar was in a state of peril post-Covid, selling only a fraction of the cars it did at its peak. Something needed to be done to modernise and revolutionise the brand for the electric era. You might not recognise Jaguar anymore, but many, many more people will.
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