You have to feel sorry for Jaguar. By any standards it's been a terrible year for the British carmaker.

First came dealing with the continued fallout of the December 2024 reveal of the Type 00 concept. The brand wanted the EV's radical design to be polarizing, but it seemed unprepared for what forms such polarized views might actually take. Elon Musk, of course, couldn't resist taking a pot shot at the now infamous ad campaign that didn’t even show a car.

According to Jaguar’s managing director, Rawdon Glover, the supposed “wokeness” of the ad campaign, which featured a multiracial cast, resulted in a barrage of online “hatred and intolerance” directed at both the brand and, deplorably, Jaguar staff.

Then, in August, following this controversial rebrand (and with spectacularly poor timing), the CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, Adrian Mardell, announced he was stepping down after just three years as chief executive. This was mere weeks before all hell broke loos...