Jaguar Won’t Be The ‘British BMW’ Anymore.

CEO Adrian Mardell and JLR chief creative officer Gerry McGovern have provided investors with an update on Jaguar; and McGovern made some scathing remarks about Jaguar’s outgoing brand strategy as it pivots to becoming a more exclusive marque.

“What we won’t worry about is being loved by everybody, because that’s the kiss of death,” Gerry McGovern told investors at a conference, warning this is a recipe for “mediocrity”. “That’s what’s put Jaguar where it is today, with no equity whatsoever.”

Jaguar had long been a two-model brand, but in the 2000s it was expanded to include more affordable X-Type and S-Type models, neither of which ended up meeting sales targets.

That didn’t stop Jaguar from having a crack once again at higher-volume segments with XE and XF successors for these models, plus the E-Pace and F-Pace SUV.

But Jaguar wants to return to a smaller, more prestigious line-up, with McGovern specifically referencing the sales days of the 1990s. “This brand was incredibly successful in North America 25 years ago before we took the compromises and the decisions we made,” he said.

“A lower-volume, higher-price is absolutely the right position for Jaguar today.

Jaguar has been tight-lipped with details on its planned renaissance, but it has confirmed it will launch a four-door grand tourer in 2025 with a range of around 700km [Adelaide to Melbourne] with a starting price in the UK of £100,000 (A$189,000).

It will be followed by two additional vehicles, with the trio to use a purposebuilt platform called the JEA (Jaguar Electric Architecture).

The cars are still being developed, but don’t expect them necessarily to conform to existing market sectors.

Autocar in an interview with McGovern asked if Jaguar will still be a sports car maker? “Yes, definitely.”

The company will feature breathtaking designs. “When Jaguars appear for the first time, they need to have that jawdropping moment: ‘Wow, Jesus, what’s that?’” McGovern said.

“I don’t think I’ve had any failures with Land Rover and I didn’t feel like having a failure with Jaguar,” he added.

Jaguars will be “absolutely modern and relevant”. Their desirability will be created through sophistication of proportion, surface and form, not embellishment and lots of extraneous lines (which McGovern calls “Zorro design”). Lowness is a Jaguar design value that could well be put to use in some cars, and some are likely to keep their long bonnets.

“There’s a movement among EV designers to extend the cabin and shorten the bonnet, because you can,” says McGovern. “But we’re not convinced that’s the right look for Jaguar. It doesn’t deliver the exuberance we want.”

More information is to be provided later this year with all of Jaguar’s current models expected to be discontinued without replacement by 2025; though the I-Pace has potential to continue on as JLR’s contract with Magna, which builds the crossover in Austria, doesn’t end until 2027. .

Editor: Information for this story sourced from AutoCar and Car Scoops.