Between signing deals with foreign countries and media magnates, US President Donald Trump has taken to social media to slam Jaguar's rebrand as 'woke' and 'disgraceful'.
Donald Trump has claimed luxury-car maker Jaguar is in "absolute turmoil", in an online post labelling its controversial rebrand revealed last year as "woke" and "a total disaster".
The 47th President of the United States has taken to his Truth Social platform this week to criticise the British brand, after it announced its CEO of three years, Adrian Mardell, would step down in November.
Mardell's departure is pitched as a retirement – and Jaguar Land Rover says the search for his replacement, an executive from parent firm Tata, began months ago – but Trump claims he has "resigned in disgrace".
"Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement," Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday, "THAT IS A TOTAL DISASTER!
"The CEO just resigned in disgrace, and the company is in absolute turmoil. Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad.
"Shouldn’t they have learned a lesson from Bud Lite, which went Woke and essentially destroyed, in a short campaign, the Company. The market cap destruction has been unprecedented, with BILLIONS OF DOLLARS SO FOOLISHLY LOST."
Trump's post praises an American Eagle jeans ad starring actress Sydney Sweeney – who is reported to be a registered Republican Party member – as "the 'HOTTEST' ad out there," and responsible for "jeans [that] are 'flying off the shelves'."
"The tide has seriously turned — Being WOKE is for losers, being Republican is what you want to be," Trump said.
Plans to 'reboot' the Jaguar brand as a high-end, niche rival to Bentley with electric cars – rather than gunning for sales volume in pursuit of Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – were announced in 2021 under Mardell's predecessor, Thierry Bolloré, who departed the role in 2022.
However, it was a 30-second promo video – accompanying fresh branding – starring unconventionally-dressed models in bizarre studio scenes, rather than any cars, that drew controversy.
The advertisement has attracted more than 4.6 million views and nearly 48,000 comments on YouTube, many of which are negative.
That ad agency – Accenture Interactive, which bought out the previous creative agency used by Jaguar, Spark44 – will not have its contract renewed once it expires in mid-2026, reports have claimed.
The first car under the rebooted Jaguar brand is expected to be revealed by the end of this year, based on the Type 00 concept shown late last year to a similar negative online reception.
Trump is far from the first public figure to criticise the Jaguar rebrand.
His former political ally, reported head of the Department of Government Efficiency, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk replied "do you sell cars?" to the Jaguar video posted on the social-media platform he owns, X (formerly Twitter).
Alex Misoyannis has been writing about cars since 2017, when he started his own website, Redline. He contributed for Drive in 2018, before joining CarAdvice in 2019, becoming a regular contributing journalist within the news team in 2020. Cars have played a central role throughout Alex’s life, from flicking through car magazines at a young age, to growing up around performance vehicles in a car-loving family. Highly Commended - Young Writer of the Year 2024 (Under 30) Rising Star Journalist, 2024 Winner Scoop of The Year - 2024 Winner
