Jaguar Land Rover, now known as JLR, is restructuring the way its brands work. As a part of that restructuring, it just got a new logo. I typically hesitate to quote a press release directly, but the automaker claims its new branding “embodies elegance, modernity and the company’s forward-thinking essence.” Big words for a logo that looks like it belongs on the door of a local contractor.
Maybe that’s a little harsh, but as numerous automakers move toward logos that try to say more with less, JLR’s could’ve used a hair more effort. It’s unlikely this branding will actually end up on any vehicles; the old logo, which admittedly wasn’t anything to write home about, never did in its full form.
This whole deal is more than just a logo change. The Land Rover name is being stripped from vehicles in favor of elevating model names like Discovery, Range Rover, and Defender to brand status. Jaguar is staying the same, though.
This is something of a trend in the auto industry right now. Automakers are seeing long-standing, iconic names as good places to extract value from. We’re allegedly going to see a bunch of Corvette-branded cars that aren’t Corvettes soon, the Mustang is now an electric crossover, and Wagoneer is just kind of its own thing.
In the case of JLR, perhaps doing anything is better than doing nothing, even if it’s a silly branding exercise. The company, similar to other automakers like Nissan, had an early electric vehicle, the I-Pace, but has otherwise been very slow to electrify. As the industry moves toward hybrids, PHEVs, and EVs, JLR is lagging behind, at least in the United States. It needs to take control of its destiny, and soon. If a silly new logo is a part of that, so be it.
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