Jaguar Land Rover renames itself JLR, reorganizes into 4 subbrands

Jaguar Land Rover will now be called JLR in a rebrand that shifts the focus onto four subbrands: Range Rover, Discovery, Defender and Jaguar.

JLR will become a "House of Brands" in a change of strategy that will help "amplify the uniqueness of our characterful British marques," Gerry McGovern, chief creative officer, said in a statement.

JLR has been trying in recent years to separate its mainly SUV lineup and create more distinction between vehicles by giving them discrete personalities.

The strategy within Land Rover since 2021 has been to separate vehicles into three "pillars," with Range Rover taking the lead on luxury, Discovery focusing on families, and Defender drawing on its off-road roots to major in durability.

With the updated strategy, each Land Rover pillar is turned into a fully fledged brand, joined by the newly luxurious Jaguar.

JLR announced Wednesday that Jaguar's first car under its new strategy will be a four-door electric GT priced at more than £100,000 ($167,5050) with a range of up to 700 kilometres (435 miles).

The absence of the Land Rover name in the rebrand created controversy on social media within the U.K., with some commentators assuming JLR had dropped the storied name. However, JLR confirmed the name would continue as a badge on its SUVs to serve as a "trust mark."

"Land Rover will remain. It is strong, well known, and we will use that collective strength to give our brands authenticity and purpose," a spokesman told Automotive News Europe.

JLR will repurpose its showrooms to incorporate the new brands, with some selling all four and others focusing more tightly on a reduced number. The look is still being refined but will feature "no desks, softer furnishing and a much more client-oriented luxury experience," Paddy McGillycuddy, head of JLR in the U.K., told sibling publication Automotive News Europe this year.

JLR in February opened its first Range Rover boutique in London's upmarket Mayfair, run by dealership group Stratstone. JLR is shifting to the agency model for its dealers in the U.K. by the end of 2024 as part of a wider push to sell directly to customers. JLR began the move to the agency model in South Africa in 2022.

In the U.S., JLR has asked some of its dealers to give up their Jaguar franchises amid the company's transition to an electrified future. The company has begun the process of reducing Jaguar stores by offering dealers extra allocations of hot-selling Land Rover nameplates, such as the redesigned Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender, if they give up their Jaguar franchises. It wasn't clear how many dealers have accepted the offer, nor was it immediately known what dealers will need to do to prepare for the subbrand strategy.