Jaguar used to be the sleek luxury car brand people talked about when they meant style, speed, and prestige. Now it looks like they’ve decided being loud about diversity and fashion statements is their new horsepower. In late 2024, Jaguar launched a rebrand campaign featuring androgynous models, colorful visuals, slogans like “live vivid,” “delete ordinary,” and “break moulds,” with no cars in sight. Many longtime customers responded with confusion and backlash, asking more “Do you sell cars?” than “Where’s my Jaguar?”
Jaguar has also leaned heavily into DEI programs and sponsorships tied to LGBTQ+ culture. At the Attitude Awards in London, company leadership boasted about establishing over 15 internal DEI groups (like Pride, Women in Engineering, Neurodiversity Matters) and rolling out workplace policies that support gender transitioning among employees. Critics say this shift feels more like marketing alignment than a response to customer values.
On National Coming Out Day, Jaguar UK swapped horsepower for rainbow power, raising flags and hosting awareness events at its sites. Instead of putting more cars on the road, the brand put more colors on the flagpole. Customers wondering about new models had to settle for a Pride display instead.
When backlash erupted over Jaguar’s rebrand campaign that looked more like a fashion show than a car launch, company execs did not hit the brakes. Instead, Jaguar’s managing director defended the move and labeled critics as guilty of “hatred and intolerance.” Apparently, disagreeing with a car company that forgot to show cars now counts as bigotry.
In 2024, JLR's UK Brand Director Santino Pietrosanti boasted of 15+ DEI groups like Pride, Women in Engineering, and Neurodiversity Matters during a "transformative journey" speech, tying it to their rebrand's diversity-driven glow-up. The networks, backed by board champions, aim for equitable hiring and authentic selves at work.
In 2020, JLR posted Juneteenth tributes across socials, paying "respects to all those who have fought for freedom, justice and equality," aligning with BLM's racial reckoning wave while auto peers like Ford donated millions.