Trump Rips Jaguar’s ‘Stupid Woke’ Rebrand Just As New Boss Steps Into The Fire

US president described Jag’s controversial rebranding campaign as “a total disaster!”

                                        https://www.carscoops.com/author/chris-chilton-cc/                                    

by Chris Chilton

46 minutes ago

The US president just breathed new life into the saga of Jaguar’s controversial 2024 attempt to rebrand itself, slamming the advertising campaign as ‘woke’ and claiming its failure caused the company’s CEO to resign in disgrace.

Related: JLR Boss Who Gambled On Jaguar’s Rebrand Just Walked Away

After praising an American Eagle jeans commercial featuring actress Sydney Sweeney that has been criticized for glorifying white America, Trump contrasted the campaign with Jag’s multicultural, but baffling, campaign that didn’t contain a single car.

“On the other side of the ledger, Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement, THAT IS A TOTAL DISASTER!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “The CEO just resigned in disgrace, and the company is in absolute turmoil. Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad.”

New Leadership at JLR

Donald Trump made the remarks this week as JLR revealed its new CEO. He’s PB Balaji, who has served as the finance chief of JLR’s parent company Tata since 2017 and has 32 years of experience in the automotive and consumer goods industries, JLR says. And though he’s been a money guy for past eight years, Balaji knows how cars tick, too, judging from the mechanical engineering qualification on his résumé.

Balaji replaces Adrian Mardell, who is retiring after 35 years at JLR, the last three of which he spent as CEO following the departure of Thierry Bolloré. Mardell has overseen a period of healthy growth at JLR, delivering the company’s best profits for years having navigated some tricky waters during the COVID era. Earlier this year he claimed Jaguar wasn’t trying to be ‘woke’ and admitted he was fine if it lost a few of its old customers as a result of its rebirth.

But Mardell was also CEO when Jaguar launched into its brave rebranding plan last year, and it’s this point that Trump has fixed on. The campaign made Jaguar – which is pivoting upmarket and to electric cars – a laughing stock, but also generated a ton of brand exposure both for the company and for the shockingly modern EV concept it revealed soon after.

Although there’s no evidence that Mardell’s retirement has anything to do with the reception of the ad campaign, Trump seems to suggest otherwise.

“It is my privilege to lead this incredible company,” Balaji said of his appointment. “Over the past 8 years I have grown to know and love this company and its redoubtable global brands. I look forward to working with the team to take it to even greater heights. I thank Adrian for his immense contributions and wish him well for his next innings.”

JLR