'Go woke, go broke'? Why Jaguar is about to return to fast lane – or crash and burn spectacularly

Instead what I found was a unit at Fort Kinnaird where a bunch of blokes in suits seemed to be trying to sell used motors. Very confusing.

At the moment Jaguar are urging us to “trust and reserve judgment” ahead of one of the biggest brand relaunches in history at the Miami Art Fair on Monday. Part of me hopes this is all a joke and they will simply unveil a barely changed 2.4-litre Jaguar Mark 2 with a boot big enough for a set of golf clubs and a cup holder so the driver doesn’t spill his drink on the way home. All that fuss for nothing.

‘Copy Nothing’

However based on the mood music so far, that probably won’t be the case. Despite stalling sales of electric vehicles, Jaguar have stopped selling new cars and ditched all diesel and petrol production ahead of the rebrand.

The only insight into what comes next is a 30-second teaser on social media that makes the United Colours of Benneton look like a Reform party meeting on St George’s Day. To add to the sense of change happening the slogan being used is “Copy Nothing” which funnily enough is what editor says when I don’t have a fresh idea for this column.

Clearly something had to change. In a market where car brands like Tesla and BMW are accelerating ahead, Jaguar were stalled at the lights and trying to get Val Doonican to play on the eight-track cartridge. The automotive world had moved on.

Musk pokes fun

But ditching everything and attempting to persuade everyone you are not the class geek but really the coolest person in the playground overnight is a very high-risk strategy.

It might be genius. As former Formula 1 driver Martin Brundle noted "Everyone is talking about Jaguar in a moment of time when they’re not actually making cars." Even Tesla boss Elon Musk got sucked into the conversation, posting "do you sell cars?" on X when Jaguar began teasing the relaunch.

And there is another clue to the potential success of what Jaguar are attempting to achieve. Newspaper coverage has been largely hostile with critics queuing up to accuse the company of trashing 90 years of history with many warning “go woke, go broke”.

Two Jags

Last week that coverage sat alongside obituaries of perhaps Jaguar’s best-known British customer. Former Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott loved the brand so much he had not one but two in the garage at home in Hull.

But he wasn’t exactly the brand ambassador they wanted. Pugnacious and straight talking, he was as famous for punching a belligerent voter and having an affair with his secretary as he was for anything achieved at Westminster. In other words, he defied convention and eschewed tradition but still succeeded.

Jaguar will be hoping that same approach will allow them to achieve revolution over evolution and prove their critics wrong. All will become clear next week when this iconic British brand will either return to the fast lane or crash and burn spectacularly.