Jaguar is an iconic brand known for its beautiful sports cars and elegant yet understated limousines.
The E-Type became an icon, while the F-Type stood out as one of the loudest, most beautiful and most beautiful sports cars on the market.
And let's not forget that in 2018, Jaguar even offered a van – the ultra-rare XF Sportbrake, reports Telegraph.
Today, however, Jaguar sells just one vehicle, and it's nearly a decade old. The F-Pace is past its prime, with no clear replacement in sight.
Dealers have been left waiting as the brand works to reinvent itself as a carmaker solely for electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, Jaguar unveiled the Type 00 concept. Ambitious and undoubtedly impressive, the concept nevertheless received a muted response, largely due to a strange marketing campaign.
Things looked even more uncertain when reports emerged claiming the company had sacked design chief Gerry McGovern – claims that Jaguar later told Motor1 were “untrue”.
Simply put, Jaguar finds itself in a difficult position.
To understand what's happening at Jaguar today, it's helpful to go back and see how it all began. That means a brief history lesson.
The company we now know as Jaguar began in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company. One of its co-founders, William Lyons, later split with his partner to form SS Cars.
In 1935, the company introduced the SS Jaguar 100, and a decade later – wisely, given the times – the brand was renamed Jaguar in 1945.
Over the following decades, Jaguar produced some truly remarkable cars. Just look at the C-Type and D-Type, or imagine yourself driving down the road in an XK150.
Then came the sedans – stunning cars that perfectly embodied Jaguar’s famous slogan: Grace, Space and Pace. You looked good, had plenty of space and could still move quickly when you wanted to.
Eventually, Jaguar was acquired by Ford, marking the point where Gerry McGovern made history. McGovern studied design at the Royal College of Art in London before moving to Detroit to work for Chrysler. From there, he rose through the ranks of Ford's Premier Automotive Group.
Since 2011, McGovern has played a major role in shaping Land Rover's design direction. He oversaw the redesign of the 2010 Range Rover line and the Discovery 4 – both widely acclaimed.
He's also responsible for the more controversial Discovery 5. However, McGovern's history includes some great successes, most notably the current Defender, one of our favorites.
Now, let's quickly move on to Jaguar today. The product landscape is a disaster. In fact, it's a vehicle that's almost 10 years old. The F-Type is gone, the XF is gone, and both the outgoing E-Pace and XE weren't very good.
If you want an I-Pace, the best option is to download the Waymo app on your phone. Jaguar claimed it was ceasing production of its combustion engines to overhaul and convert to producing only electric vehicles.
This means sales will fall by almost 100 percent by 2025, as Jaguar dealers have nothing to sell. However, JLR's problems cannot be attributed to one person.
The reality of the Type 00 concept is that it's actually quite good. In fact, just a year after it arrived, we saw similar concepts from the likes of Mercedes-Benz, with the stunning Vision Iconic, and the very good Audi Concept C. Both vehicles received a generally positive reception. But the marketing and hype surrounding the Jag tarnished everything around it.
This leaves us with a rather disastrous rebrand, no products for dealers and, to make matters worse, JLR suffered a cyberattack earlier this year that disrupted ongoing operations. It cost the business nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Only a small part of Jaguar's problems can be attributed to Gerry McGovern. Yes, it seems like he was a driving force behind the rebrand, but a big problem is that he hired an outside team to realize his vision.
Instead of relying on insiders who better understand what Jaguar is, this outside agency created something that seemed to alienate fans of the brand.
The chaotic and constant news surrounding McGovern only highlights the apparent lack of direction at Jaguar. It is a brand with an incredible heritage and one that we hope will find a proper path forward.
So what does Jaguar need to do to right its ship? A new F-Pace is a good start, as a crossover is still relevant in many markets. But getting production and product back on track needs to happen as soon as possible. From there, Jaguar needs a proper sports car and a proper limousine. /Telegraph/
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