Jaguar-Land Rover's next CEO isn't concerning himself with President Donald Trump's take on Jag's polarizing rebrand. He insists the British automaker is in good shape for the future, and its customers are responding positively to the rebrand that dared to include models of color and a pink car.
Last week, the President — who must have finished up all of the other important work he had to do — said the company was in "absolute turmoil" and called out its "woke" advertisement it released last year.
Despite this, Jag is sticking strong with its plans. The group's next CEO, PB Balaji, who is expected to take over in November, says the company is sticking with its new look, according to Bloomberg. Here's what Balaji told the outlet:
"We have put our plans together, the cars are being revealed, they're getting exciting response from the customers on the ground," Balaji said on a call with reporters Friday. "Therefore that's what the strategy is."
Asked about Trump's remarks, Balaji said JLR's performance in a struggling global car industry proves the company is on the right track. "You need to compare our numbers vis-à-vis how others are delivering," he said.
His comments appear to reject Trump's assertion that JLR's outgoing CEO Adrian Mardell resigned over the rebrand.
Trump, spurred on by the controversy surrounding Sydney Sweeney's "Good Jeans" ad, took an errant shot at Jag's rebrand, saying it was a "TOTAL DISASTER!" and asked, "Who wants to buy a Jagaur after looking at that disgraceful ad?" Luckily for everyone involved, Jag doesn't care about what the U.S. president has to say.
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Jaguar Needs To Do This
I understand this rebrand isn't for everyone, but Jaguar needed to do something to reinvigorate the brand. JLR's profit before tax and exceptional items dropped 49% to $472 million on a quarterly revenue of $8.9 billion. I'm sure those numbers would be even worse if you separate the two companies. It's not like Land Rover is doing particularly well, but it's super solid when you compare it to Jaguar's current state.
The company unveiled its new Type 00 concept vehicle late last year. Online dorks complained that the ad that introduced it was too woke and didn't talk enough about Jaguar's heritage. Of course, the evidence suggests that no one actually cares about Jag's heritage based on the fact its sales were pretty damn dismal.
On top of all of that, Trump's very own ill-advised tariffs have hurt Jaguar immensely. Earlier this year, it had to pause shipments to the U.S., but it has since restarted them — not that anyone has noticed.
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