The managing director of Jaguar has hit out at what he called “vile hatred and intolerance” after the car company released a new advert.
A 30-second clip posted on the luxury car brand’s X account on Tuesday prompted online backlash after it featured a diverse group of models posing in bright clothes but no vehicles or the iconic leaping big cat.
The advert was viewed 160 million times and gained over 120,000 comments, including from X owner Elon Musk who said: “Do you sell cars?”
Other’s claimed the brand was “going woke” and “reinventing to be on trend”, an apparent reference to those in the video and some of the advert’s taglines, such as “copy nothing” and “break moulds”.
Also on Tuesday, Jaguar unveiled a new logo as part of its rebranding and said it will launch three new electric cars in 2026.
Defending the advert, Rawdon Glover, Jaguar managing director, told the Financial Times that it was not meant to be a “woke” statement and that the intended message had been lost in “a blaze of intolerance”.
“We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently. We wanted to move away from traditional automotive stereotypes,” he said.
“If we play in the same way that everybody else does we’ll just get drowned out.”
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Mr Glover said the brand needed to “attract a new customer base” without leaving all of its other customers behind.
In response to Mr Musk’s comment on X, Jaguar said: “Yes. We’d love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2 December?”
Replying to another user who questioned where the cars were, the company said: “The story is unfolding. Stay tuned.”