The Jaguar Farce - Opinion by Andrew Frankl, TACH European Bureau Chief

As a member of the CAR magazine team I remember how happy Sir William Lyons was in 1986 when we handed over to him the CAR of the Year. In those days the trophy meant something. These days every magazine dishes one out consequently it means a great deal less.

The Jaguar XJ 6 was a very fine automobile let down by Lucas electrics. In fact, Lucas was known as the Prince of Darkness to five Continents.

That as they say is it, but in terms of ride and handling Jaguars were in a class of their own. Over the years Jaguar changed hands many times until the Tata group rescued it. Tata made the Range Rover one of the most coveted things on 4 wheels, which is more or less obligatory if you have a ski chalet in Aspen or St Moritz.

Not so Jaguar - in the same stable - which has being doing sort of all right inspire of having some great cars such as the V8 engined 400 hp model. We took it up to Northstar and loved every minute of the journey. So so good, but the company decided that it was time to go all electric. How were they to know that EVs would go out of fashion with people switching to hybrids?!

They decided to burn all their bridges: EV or nothing. Some brighter companies chose to play it safe. Still, as a niche market product, Jaguar might have succeeded, and looking ahead it still could turn out to be the surprise product of 2025. But alas, the signs are ominous. Tata gave the job of re-imagining Jaguar to Santonio Pietrosanti, Jaguar's Head Of Brand, a woke-world supporting American executive from New York, who lives with his Scottish husband and their cockapoo Mia, the task of transforming this 100-year-old British icon. At a recent dinner, Mr. Pietrosanti boasted that he was assured by no fewer than 15 DEI groups that he was on the right track.

At the actual launch in Miami on December 2, with an agency produced very expensive commercial that, as you can see below, has nothing to do with cars but features several gay and lesbian models in futuristic outfits which might, just might appear in Vogue but which has caused mirth and revulsion among people in general and auto aficionados in particular. Radical left, mega woke, transgender’s delight, didn’t they learn from the Bud Light fiasco are the more printable versions. To be fair the commercial has been seen by millions and if all publicity is good publicity then Jaguar have done well. The ads accompanied by ridicule have been featured on several TV stations and lots of newspapers as well. We will know more after December 2nd and for the sake of the workers on the production line let us hope it will be a roaring success.