Jaguar's 'woke' rebrand is shocking - an unalloyed win

The "pink flamingo", as I think it should be nicknamed, has landed. The new Jaguar concept car was fittingly unveiled in Miami, a typically moneyed export market.

- SEAN O'GRADY

It's like no previous Jaguar in many ways – and that’s a very good thing. From a marque many of us, with great regret, assumed was moribund and about to join other great British names in that great garage in the sky, it is a positive, powerful, bold affirmation of future intent. Jaguar is alive!

The two show cars, in “Miami Pink” and “London Blue”, have burst onto the automotive scene like a couple of drag queens at a Reform UK rally – out, loud and proud. The knowingly controversial “woke” ad they ran in advance – no car, plenty of beautiful, multiracial, androgynous stars, “copy nothing” – did the trick. It engendered predictable outrage in all the right places; and curiosity among the many who care little about cars (and usually, couldn’t care less).

Rightly, Jaguar has ignored traditional styling cues “iconic” in past models such as the E-type, the Mark 2 beloved of Inspector Morse or the elegant XJ saloons. Back in the 1990s, motoring journalists used to beg Jaguar to bring out new retro-styled models redolent of such past successes – to revitalise the brand’s fortunes and delight the eye, in equal measure.