Jaguar is an iconic brand known for its beautiful sports cars and elegant yet understated sedans. The E-Type became an icon, while the F-Type stood out as one of the loudest, tail-happiest, and best-looking sports cars on the market. And let’s not forget that in 2018, Jaguar even offered a wagon—the ultra-rare XF Sportbrake.
Today, however, Jaguar sells just one vehicle, and it’s nearly a decade old. The F-Pace is being stretched well past its prime, with no clear replacement in sight. Dealers are left waiting as the brand works to reinvent itself as an EV-only automaker.
In the meantime, Jaguar unveiled the Type 00 Concept. Ambitious and undeniably striking, the concept nevertheless landed with a muted response, largely due to a puzzling marketing campaign. Things appeared even more uncertain when reports surfaced claiming the company had fired design boss Gerry McGovern—claims Jaguar later told Motor1 were "untrue."
Simply put, Jaguar finds itself in a difficult position.
To understand what’s happening at Jaguar today, it helps to step back and see how it all began. That means a brief history lesson.
The company we now know as Jaguar started in 1922 as the Swallow Sidecar Company. One of its co-founders, William Lyons, later split from his partner to form SS Cars. In 1935, the company introduced the SS Jaguar 100, and a decade later—wisely, given the timing—the brand was renamed Jaguar in 1945.
Over the following decades, Jaguar produced some truly exceptional cars. Just look at the C-Type and D-Type, or imagine yourself tearing down the road in an XK150. Then came the sedans—stunners that perfectly embodied Jaguar’s famous slogan: Grace, Space, and Pace. You looked good, had plenty of room, and could still move quickly when you wanted to.
Eventually, Jaguar was acquired by Ford, marking the point where Gerry McGovern enters the story. McGovern studied design at London’s Royal College of Art before heading to Detroit to work for Chrysler. From there, he rose through the ranks of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group.
Since 2011, McGovern has played a major role in shaping Land Rover’s design direction. He oversaw the redesign of the 2010 Range Rover lineup and the Discovery 4—both widely praised. He’s also responsible for the Discovery 5, which proved more controversial. Still, McGovern’s track record includes several major successes, most notably the current Defender, one of our favorites.
Now, let’s fast forward to Jaguar today. The product landscape is a disaster. In fact, it’s one vehicle that’s nearly 10 years old. The F-Type is gone, the XF too, and both the outgoing E-Pace and XE models were less than stellar. If you want an I-Pace, your best bet is to download the Waymo app on your phone.
Jaguar claimed it was discontinuing production of its combustion engines to retool and convert solely to EV production. That meant sales dropped by nearly 100 percent in 2025, as Jaguar dealers are sitting with nothing to sell. Despite this, JLR's woes cannot be tied to one man.
The reality of the Type 00 concept is that it’s actually pretty cool. In fact, just a year after it arrived, we saw similar concepts from the likes of Mercedes-Benz, with its stunning Vision Iconic, and the very cool Audi Concept C. Both vehicles received a generally positive reception. But the marketing and hoopla around the Jag sullied everything about it.
That leaves us with a rather disastrous rebrand, no products for dealers, and, to make things worse, JLR suffered from a cyberattack earlier this year that disrupted ongoing operations. It cost the business nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Only a fraction of Jaguar's issues can be attributed to Gerry McGovern. Yes, it sounds like he was a driving force behind the rebrand, but a major problem is that he hired an outside team to deliver his vision. Instead of relying on the in-house folks who better understand what Jaguar is all about, this outside agency created something that seemed to alienate the brand's fans.
The back-and-forth, chaotic news surrounding McGovern only points to the seeming lack of direction at Jaguar. It's a brand with tremendous heritage and one that we hope figures out a proper path forward.
So what does Jaguar have to do to right its ship? A new F-Pace is a decent start, as a crossover is still important in lots of markets. But getting production and product back in shape needs to happen asap. From there, Jaguar needs a proper sports car and a proper sedan.
Keep the Type 00 as a potential flagship super grand tourer of sorts, but revive the core of what makes Jaguar—Jaguar. And perhaps the leaping cat will be back on track. Speaking of, bring back the Leaper.
