Ripping up Jaguar history would be 'big mistake', says brand boss

The move towards EVs and “the increasing threat from Chinese brands” meant a small step would not be appropriate.

Glover said: “We needed to make one really big step, because the environment is changing. The competitive set is changing. We think client habits are changing. Across the board, it wasn’t the time for Jaguar to take a little tentative step, which is probably what caught some people off guard in terms of it being a really big step for Jaguar.

“But the ‘why’ is really important for me, becausewhen you take in all of those contextual factors, it demands a change of that magnitude.”

When that change was first revealed to the world, initially as a rebranding in November and then with the unveiling of the Type 00 concept car a month later, Glover was acutely aware that reaction was at best mixed. (“Some commentators completely got it. Others haven’t. Similarly, some enthusiast groups have got it and others haven’t and we need to take them on that journey.”) But he is unwavering about why this needed to be done.

“The team is absolutely unflinching on this: what it’s going to take for Jaguar to succeed and the way that we’re going to do it,” he said. “The design teams, the engineering teams – everybody’s been involved in getting it this far.”

Returning to enthusiasts, Glover is frustrated that “messages get filtered” and about the sentiment that this new Jaguar is not for those who have loved and bought into the brand to date.

“One example being: ’we are leaving our customers behind; we don’t care about our current customers’. That came from some of the negative commentary. But that was never the intention,” he said.

“I can understand how that has been interpreted, because we’re basically saying Jaguar needs to attract a new audience. But that doesn’t mean to say we’re not interested in our current audience. Quite the opposite. [We] want to take as many of that current audience on that journey with us as possible.

“We probably could have done a better job in just laying that out and explaining the narrative about why we were making the change, why the change was so dramatic. I think that was probably lost in that story. There’s definitely learning in that process.”

Are there comparisons with how JLR reinvented the Land Rover Defender and upset the purists? “It’s definitely a good parallel,” said Glover. “From the experiences in the reaction, and then parallels in what we’re doing.

“People ask me with Jaguar how you can completely break production, take a new concept, double the price point and increase the volume.

“We’ve already done it. We did exactly that with Defender. We took an icon that was cherished and we reimagined it. Most people would say it’s an authentic Defender. It does what a Defender should do.

“It operates at a completely different price point and we’ve tripled the volume and doubled the price point. We’re not looking to triple the Jaguar volume, but it’s an indication that these things can be done.”

Much like the Defender reboot before it, the deep passion within Gaydon for its brands’ storied cars will become even more evident closer to launch. When Jaguar starts talking beyond brand and design, said Glover, this “phase of the communication will help enormously” with those who are not convinced about what Jaguar is doing.

“There are clearly lots and lots of people out there that love Jaguars and heritage and history of the brand,” he said. “But the people here are exactly the same.

“Many people like that are in this organisation. You’re in our head office today in Gaydon and there’s about 20,000 people here. For many, the reason they’re here is because their grandfather worked at Jaguar, their father worked here, and they have an affinity with it and they are deeply passionate about what we do. They care and they also really understand.

“I quite often get asked why I’ve cut the umbilical cord with Jaguar’s history, to which my response is [I’ve done] quite the opposite.

“We’ve looked at our history and what we’re going to be doing is not a literal interpretation. If you’re looking for a literal interpretation, we’d have just gone and done an E-Type restomod and been rightly criticised.

“But if you look at Jaguar’s history and look at those moments in its history when it was really successful and really relevant, culturally, socially, commercially, it’s because it was very, very clear about what it was about. There are some beautiful, iconic vehicles in our history and it’s understanding what was different about those.”

While there are nods to previous Jaguars in the design of the Type 00, Glover said “it’s not an E-Type and nor should it be” yet it does have “the essence of the brand” in it.

“The essence of the brand is that sense of having the strength of conviction of what we’re doing,” he said. “If everybody else is turning right, maybe we’re okay to turn left. When we’re questioned or challenged about our history, I’m at pains to point out that the spirit of what we’re doing is absolutely in keeping with our history.