Jaguar’s boss has defended the company’s move to move away from “traditional car stereotypes” after a clip of his new advert was met with a barrage of “vile hatred and intolerance” online.

This week, Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury British carmaker owned by India’s Tata Motors, posted a 30-second clip on

“If we play the same way as everyone else, we just get drowned out. So we shouldn’t emerge as a car brand,” Jaguar’s chief executive, Rawdon Glover, told the Financial Times about the company’s “copy nothing” campaign.

The new ad and rebrand sparked a backlash with more than 100,000 responses, including from the platform’s CEO Elon Musk, who replied: “Do you sell cars?”

In response, Glover said, “Yes. We’d like to show it to you,” and invited Musk for tea next month in Miami, where the company is presenting a public installation for the rebrand during Miami Art Week.

Glover told the FT that while the response to the new campaign, which attracted more than 160 million views on social media, had been “very positive”, he said he was disappointed by the “vile hatred and bigotry” in the comments towards those who appear in the campaign. video.

“This is a new show that recaptures the essence of Jaguar and returns it to the values ​​that once made it so loved, but makes it relevant to a contemporary audience,” said Gerry McGovern, Chief Creative Officer of Jaguar.

Britain’s largest automotive employer – officially known as JLR – may have been slower than its rivals to embrace electric vehicles, but has recently invested in building hybrid cars and preparing for electric vehicle production, starting with the first deliveries of the electric Range Rover, made in the main factory. in Solihull, in the West Midlands, late next year.

James Ramsden, the executive creative director of London design agency Coley Porter Bell, said the rebrand was a “radical reinvention” from a company looking to appeal to a new generation.

“It’s just a shame that it has lost some of the iconic, cherished and beautiful icons that have defined the brand’s DNA for generations,” Ramsden told Adweek. “If you want to ‘break the mold’, you better have a great range of cars full of innovations and design language, with a new buyer experience, ready to go… that’s what we’re waiting for.”