Jaguar boss disappointed by 'vile hatred' over new car-free ad

LONDON: The managing director of Jaguar has said he was disappointed by the “vile hatred and intolerance” in responses to a clip of the car company’s new ad.

The luxury car brand posted a 30-second video on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday which featured models posing in bright clothes but no vehicles.

The clip prompted a backlash online among some 120,000 comments, with the social media site’s chief executive Elon Musk responding: “Do you sell cars?”

Jaguar managing director Rawdon Glover told the Financial Times: “If we play in the same way that everybody else does we’ll just get drowned out.

“So we shouldn’t turn up like an auto brand. We need to re-establish our brand and at a completely different price point so we need to act differently.”

Glover added: “We don’t want to necessarily leave all of our customers behind. But we do need to attract a new customer base.”

He denied that the video was meant to be “woke”, and said he was disappointed by the “vile hatred and intolerance” in comments about individuals in the clip.

In response to Musk’s comment on X, Jaguar said: “Yes. We’d love to show you. Join us for a cuppa in Miami on 2nd December?”

Replying to another user who questioned where the cars were, the company said: “The story is unfolding. Stay tuned.” — PA Media/dpa