It’s tough to imagine a marketing decision more catastrophic than one made by the Bud Light. But Jaguar just might rise to that challenge. It all started with a big announcement in a very off-putting commercial.
You might remember the ‘look-at-me-we’re-so-new-and-different-and-edgy’ ad that almost looked like they took inspiration from that old Mike Meyers SNL gag featuring his ‘Dieter’ character.
That story here: Jaguar’s Woke Commercial Was Bad… But They’re Getting DRAGGED For Pics Of The Car Itself
They made a burn-the-boats pivot at a moment in history where it seemed like the electric vehicle movement was inevitable. Biden’s government was setting policy. California is pressing hard to phase out gas-powered vehicles.
With the future looking electric, Jaguar made a burn-the-boats decision. The let inventory of the high-end gas powered cars their brand was built on run low, and replaced it with their future-facing sparky car.
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Other than the fqct that, by the time they made that announcement, we were already seeing massive red flags for the electric vehicle market as a whole.
Nearly 30% of electric vehicle owners globally are likely to switch back to internal combustion engine vehicles, according to a recent survey of consumers around the world conducted by McKinsey.
Many U.S. EV owners, in particular, are having second thoughts. According to the McKinsey survey, 46% of U.S. EV owners claimed they were likely to switch back to ICEs, well above the 29% global average of EV owners who stated they were likely or very likely to switch back to gas-powered cars, which included drivers from Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Norway, France, Italy, and South Korea. — CNBC, July 2024
In case that doesn’t make the point strongly enough: we’ve just heard that the Dodge Ram is bringing back the Hemi for their next model.
Ok, so the market is a little soft for electric vehicles at the moment. How bad could it be?
THIS bad:
Jaguar recorded only 49 new vehicle registrations across Europe in April 2025, according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
Compared to the 1,961 cars sold during the same month the previous year, this 97.5% plunge marked one of the steepest declines for a premium carmaker in recent history.
This marks one of the steepest year-over-year (YoY) sales collapses ever recorded for a premium automaker. — DesignRush
What’s the lesson to be learned here?
Rather than responding to customer demand, and offering an additional choice, they forced the customer to accept the new model even if he liked the other one better.
It’s the New Coke or Crystal Pepsi scenario all over again.
Will they be able to recover?
Lucky for them, they’re part of a larger brand that may be able to help them climb out of the hole they’ve dug for themselves. But there’s no guarantee of that being successful.
