Electric replaces internal combustion, luxury replaces the masses: Jaguar is repositioning itself. With a revised logo and modern design, this traditional brand is turning a new page. In the future, the brand will rely solely on electric vehicles and aims to establish a stronger presence in the luxury car segment.

Specifically, the new logo still retains the classic "leaping jaguar" action but adds 16 horizontal bars as a background; the new brand font adopts a mixed case arrangement, making it simpler than before; the new badge design eliminates the classic jaguar head element, replacing it with a symmetrical design of a capital 'J' and a lowercase 'r', all three new designs having a gold background.

Statistics show that since the first introduction of the "leaping jaguar" logo in 1982, Jaguar has changed its logo four times, but all have continued this classic design, with only minor adjustments to the jaguar's lines and letters. However, this time Jaguar's logo change has sparked considerable controversy, with some netizens believing that the new letter logo and badge design have lost their original sense of power. Additionally, a recent Jaguar brand refreshment promotional advertisement was ridiculed by netizens for resembling a clothing brand, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk directly commenting, "Are you still selling cars?"

Image source: Internet

This is just part of Jaguar's adjustments. Jaguar plans to transform into a pure electric vehicle brand by 2026. Shockingly, before the new models hit the market, Jaguar will temporarily halt all new car sales. From the beginning of next year, no new Jaguar cars will be available on the British market. Some European markets may be affected by the production halt as early as the end of 2024. Jaguar CEO Rawdon Glover said that the production and sales of current models will be "phased out gradually."

It is reported that the XE, XF, and F-Type models produced at the Castle Bromwich factory in the UK have already been affected by the production halt. By 2025, the factory will only produce the SUV F-Pace. According to foreign media reports, the Magna Steyr plant in Austria will continue to produce the E-Pace and electric I-Pace until the end of this year but will also halt production thereafter. Foreign media reports suggest that Jaguar will have no cars to sell for a year after that, and dealers will only be able to sell used cars.

In fact, there have been early signs of Jaguar halting sales of fuel vehicles. In July this year, Jaguar Land Rover announced that it would halt production of five Jaguar models with "near-zero profitability," including the XE, XF, F-Type, E-Pace, and the first pure electric model, the I-Pace.

Among them, the XE and XF belong to the sedan series, the F-Type to the sports car series, and the E-PACE and I-PACE to the SUV series. Thus, the F-Pace SUV will be the only model that Jaguar will continue to produce, but foreign media predicts that this model will not be retained for long. Therefore, by the end of this year, production of this car will also cease in overseas regions. Regarding the transformation, the news of halting the production and sales of fuel vehicles is not surprising.

According to Jaguar Land Rover's "Reimagine" strategy released in 2021, the Jaguar brand originally planned to become fully electric by 2025 and transform into an electric vehicle brand. In March this year, there were also rumors that Jaguar Land Rover would fully transition to an electric fleet and plan to halt production of all fuel vehicles in June.

In 2022, Thierry Bolloré, then CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, revealed that Jaguar's brand positioning would be higher after becoming fully electric. At that time, Jaguar's model prices would reach around 100,000 pounds, equivalent to approximately 800,000 RMB. Instead of competing with brands like Mercedes-Benz and BMW, Jaguar would compete with ultra-luxury brands like Bentley and Porsche.

To achieve this goal, Jaguar ruthlessly canceled the all-new electric large sedan, the Jaguar XJ. The MLA platform jointly developed by Jaguar and Land Rover was also canceled, as Jaguar Land Rover management deemed it insufficiently advanced.

Jaguar's plan for full electrification was first revealed in 2018. Foreign media reported at the time that Jaguar Land Rover executives were considering gradually phasing out traditional gasoline vehicles under the Jaguar brand over the next 5-7 years, replacing them with pure electric models and completing the transformation within 10 years.

Among them, the Jaguar XJ will be the first model to discontinue its fuel version, with the current model exiting the market within two years, and the next-generation XJ will be a pure electric large car. Meanwhile, the XE and XF will also be discontinued around 2023, likely to be replaced by a crossover pure electric vehicle. The Jaguar I-PACE will be replaced around 2025. Simultaneously, the E-PACE and F-PACE will also be discontinued.

Subsequently, Jaguar Land Rover announced an investment of 2.5 billion pounds to create a new platform for the Jaguar brand. According to the plan, Jaguar Land Rover will launch six electric vehicle models within the next three years, three of which will be Jaguar models. It is understood that Jaguar's three new electric vehicles will be based on the Jaguar Electric Architecture (JEA), with the first model to be launched in 2025.

According to foreign media reports, this model was previously planned to debut at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in August 2022 or the Los Angeles Auto Show in November, with a market price exceeding $125,600 (approximately 900,000 RMB) and a maximum range of up to 700 kilometers. However, this product has not been announced as scheduled. The unveiling of the concept car for the new product has been postponed to the end of this year.

It is reported that the new brand logo will be first applied to the all-new luxury large GT coupe concept car set to debut on December 2. Media reports claim that this is a luxury four-door GT coupe pure electric vehicle based on the new JEA architecture platform, with an internal code name of "Type 00." This model will be powered by dual motors at the front and rear, with a combined maximum output power of up to 447kW and a pure electric range exceeding 600 kilometers.

Jaguar is not only planning new models but also new prices. Brand Managing Director Rawdon Glover said, "With our new electric models, we will return to the luxury car market with Jaguar and enter a completely different price range." "Our starting price will be around 120,000 euros" (approximately 930,000 RMB) - about double the previous price.

In addition to this four-door GT pure electric coupe, Jaguar will also introduce a large pure electric luxury SUV and an ultra-luxury pure electric sedan in 2025. The latter will replace the existing XJ series large sedans and become Jaguar's new flagship model.

As Jaguar Land Rover transforms, the company is also adjusting its strategy in the Chinese market. In October this year, Jaguar Land Rover China and the Chery Jaguar Land Rover Joint Venture (hereinafter referred to as "IMSS") began a major restructuring. IMSS redrew the boundaries of its major functional areas, such as merging sales and after-sales, integrating product public relations into marketing, adding regional operations, and designating EVP (Executive Vice President) level leaders for each area.

After this adjustment, IMSS has completed its transition to being led by Jaguar Land Rover China. Chery will focus more on plant-side operations and will no longer participate in IMSS management, currently prioritizing the implementation of the "Freelander" project. In June, Jaguar Land Rover and Chery Holdings announced that Chery Jaguar Land Rover would launch and manufacture a series of electric products based on Chery's electric platform and use the "Freelander" brand authorized by Jaguar Land Rover.

According to the official description, Jaguar Land Rover will be responsible for product design, product quality control, and brand building for this brand's models, while the products will be developed on Chery's existing electric vehicle platform, with Chery responsible for supply chain procurement and sales. It is reported that the "Freelander" brand models will not only be sold in China but will also be exported overseas after a series of models are launched. Since Jaguar is now aiming at the ultra-luxury market, competing with brands like Bentley, the "Freelander" jointly created with Chery will effectively fill the remaining market space. This is also a good approach.

Recently, Jaguar Land Rover also released its financial report for the first half of the 2024/25 fiscal year (April-September 2024). The data shows that in the first half of the fiscal year, Jaguar Land Rover's retail sales reached 214,288 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 3%. Over the same period, Jaguar Land Rover's revenue was 13.7 billion pounds, flat from the same period last year; pre-tax profit reached 1.1 billion pounds, a year-on-year increase of 25%.