Welcome to the Daily 5 report for Tuesday, Aug. 5.
Jaguar and its outgoing CEO learned a hard lesson about the risk of polarizing marketing campaigns. Guess what? They're polarizing!
Several months after the fact, Jaguar's bizarre avant-garde ad from last fall drew President Donald Trump's ire following the announced retirement of JLR CEO Adrian Mardell. The campaign got Trump's attention while his administration tries to negotiate the end of two wars and reach trade agreements with Canada, Mexico and dozens of other nations.
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"Jaguar did a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement, THAT IS A TOTAL DISASTER!" Trump wrote on social media. "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."
RELATED ARTICLE: Bizarre desperation or ingenious publicity stunt?
Trump's comments mirrored a Fox Business story tying Mardell's resignation to Jaguar's "woke rebrand." Jaguar promoted the rebrand with a video featuring androgynous models and a radical new logo without showing any vehicles, as Nick Bunkley wrote.
Meanwhile, Mardell's replacement, PB Balaji, will be coming over from parent Tata Motors where he's been CFO since 2017. Balaji will take charge of JLR as the automaker faces tough headwinds including tariffs on its exports to the U.S., its largest market, and the aforementioned presidential backlash over the Jaguar rebranding.
It's too early to tell what Balaji will do with the Jaguar rebranding, but it wouldn't be a stretch to bet the next ad campaign will actually feature JLR's new vehicles.
In other news, Nissan Motor Co. has a plan to prove that Infiniti's QX80 SUV can venture away from asphalt, Urvaksh Karkaria reports. The automaker is exploring three limited-edition variants to showcase the flagship SUV's power, acceleration and agility. Infiniti this month will tease two of the three QX80 variants through concept cars at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in Monterey, Calif., Karkaria wrote.
Back in Detroit, there's more unrest at the top of the UAW as a faction of Stellantis workers launched efforts to oust President Shawn Fain. With the UAW's next elections in 2026, Fain is facing blowback from some members for layoffs at Stellantis factories, claims he retaliated against two fellow board members who disagreed with him and accusations that the union has mismanaged its funds, Bloomberg reported.
That's it for now. Have a great day. If you want to see this story in your browser, click here.
— Philip Nussel, online editor
