From British Elegance to Exuberant Modernism : A Case Study on Jaguar's Radical Repositioning and its Influence on Attitudinal Loyalty of Jaguar Car Owners

Background: In November 2024, the car brand Jaguar announced its radical repositioning. The brand known for British heritage is now presenting itself as “Fearless. Exuberant. Compelling.” including a logo change, new color scheme and shift to selling purely electric vehicles. This change has triggered diverse reactions from the public. Purpose: Controversial opinions of the public raise the question of how Jaguar’s current customers are affected by the brand’s radical shift. Hence, the purpose of the present research is to explore how the radical repositioning of the brand Jaguar affects the attitudinal loyalty of Jaguar owners. To connect the different theoretical concepts of this study, a conceptual model is created. Method: This research follows an interpretivist philosophy with a subjectivist ontology. 20 semi-structured interviews with Jaguar owners from Sweden and Germany are conducted online following an exploratory approach. An interview guide is created close to the conceptual model ensuring appropriate data collection. Furthermore, the collected data is thematically analysed. In this context, codes are gathered into categories, categories into sub-themes and subthemes into five final themes. Conclusion: As attitudinal loyalty of Jaguar owners towards the brand Jaguar is built on a deep emotional connection, it is still prominent after the radical repositioning. Although many participants perceive a deviation of the brand from the core values uniqueness and British heritage through the radical repositioning, the emotional connection to the brand persists. This persistence is mainly due to the strong tie to Jaguar through the Jaguar Clubs and the durability of the old cars continuously representing Jaguar’s original values. However, the changing user experience due to the shift to electric cars complicates the connection to the new models. All in all, this research shows that value alignment, brand community and user experience are vital factors to consider when aiming to maintain attitudinal loyalty of current customers when radically repositioning a brand.