US president claims Britains largest carmaker is in absolute turmoil and criticises firms rebrand
Donald Trump has attacked Jaguar Land Rovers divisive rebranding strategy, hours after Britains largest carmaker announced its new boss.
Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that the auto company, owned by Indias Tata Motors, was in absolute turmoil and claimed that the CEO resigned in disgrace.
His post on Monday evening also described JLRs recent much-criticised advert C which showed a diverse group of models in brightly coloured clothing set against a vibrant backdrop and was designed to launch the companys rebrand C as a stupid, and seriously WOKE advertisement.
Trump asked: Who wants to buy a Jaguar after looking at that disgraceful ad?
The post came shortly after JLR announced that PB Balaji would become its new chief executive and would take the reins in November. The group finance chief of JLRs parent company, Tata Motors, since 2017 will become the carmakers first Indian CEO.
He will replace Adrian Mardell, who is retiring after three years as JLRs chief executive and following 35 years working for the company.
Balaji said in a statement it was his privilege to lead JLR, adding: I look forward to working with the team to take it to even greater heights.
Mardell said he believed he had cemented JLRs position in the automotive industry during a time of incredible change, and wished Balaji success in his new role.
In recent months, JLR has been hit by the impact of Trumps tariffs, and reported a 15.1% drop in sales in the three months to June, after a temporary pause in exports to the US. It has also opened a voluntary redundancy scheme for up to 500 managers in an effort to save costs.
Sales are expected to improve after the introduction of a UK-US trade deal, which will implement lower 10% tariffs on the first 100,000 exports. The company has reported a profit for the past 10 consecutive quarters after a turnaround effort.
However, the Guardian revealed in July that JLR was delaying the planned launches of its new electric Range Rover and electric Jaguar models to give it time for more testing and to allow demand to pick up.
The electric Range Rover , which will be made in JLRs main factory in Solihull in the West Midlands, will not be delivered until 2026, instead of late this year, as previously planned. Two planned Jaguar models are also expected to be pushed back by several months.
JLR has been slower than some of its rivals to embrace electric vehicles but has recently made investments in building hybrid cars as well as preparing for EV production.
During Mardells tenure, JLR released a controversial 30-second social media clip with the tagline copy nothing, before the unveiling last November of a new electric concept car .
JLRs rebrand and advertising campaign, which did not feature a vehicle, immediately drew more than 160m views on social media, but also brought an online backlash late last year, including from Republicans and rightwing commentators in the US. The owner of X and chief executive of Tesla, Elon Musk, posted on the platform: Do you sell cars?
It prompted the carmakers managing director to say he was disappointed by the vile hatred and intolerance in the comments directed at the models in the video.
JLR was approached for comment.
美国总统称英国最大汽车制造商“陷入彻底混乱”，并批评该公司品牌重塑计划
在英国最大汽车制造商捷豹路虎宣布新任首席执行官几小时后，唐纳德·特朗普对其引发争议的品牌重塑战略发起抨击。
特朗普在其Truth Social平台上发文称，印度塔塔汽车公司旗下的这家汽车企业正处于“彻底混乱”之中，并声称其“首席执行官已耻辱性辞职”。
他在周一晚间的帖子中，还将捷豹路虎（JLR）近期备受争议的广告描述为“愚蠢且严重‘觉醒’的广告”。该广告展示了身着鲜艳服装的多元化模特群体，背景色彩鲜明，旨在推出公司的品牌重塑计划。
特朗普质问道：“看了那条有失体面的广告后，谁还会想买捷豹汽车？”
捷豹路虎（JLR）宣布PB·巴拉吉（PB Balaji）将出任新任首席执行官，并于11月正式接掌公司。自2017年起担任捷豹路虎母公司塔塔汽车集团财务总监的他，将成为这家汽车制造商首位印度籍CEO。
他将接替即将卸任的捷豹路虎（JLR）首席执行官阿德里安·马德尔（Adrian Mardell）。马德尔在为该公司效力35年后，已担任首席执行官三年，现决定退休。
巴拉吉在一份声明中表示，领导捷豹路虎（JLR）是他的“殊荣”，并补充道：“我期待与团队合作，将其推向更高峰。”
马德尔表示，他相信自己已在汽车行业巨变时期巩固了捷豹路虎（JLR）的行业地位，并祝愿巴拉吉在新岗位上取得成功。
近几个月来，捷豹路虎（JLR）受到特朗普关税政策冲击，在暂停对美出口后，其截至6月的三个月内销量下滑15.1%。该公司还启动了针对最多500名管理层的自愿离职计划，以削减成本。
随着英美贸易协定的实施，首批10万件出口商品的关税将降至10%，预计销售额将有所提升。该公司在经历转型后，已连续10个季度实现盈利。
然而，《卫报》7月披露，捷豹路虎（JLR）正推迟其新款电动揽胜（Range Rover）和电动捷豹（Jaguar）车型的发布计划，以便留出更多时间进行测试，并等待市场需求回升。
电动版路虎揽胜将在捷豹路虎（JLR）位于西米德兰兹郡索利哈尔的主要工厂生产，但其交付时间将从原计划的今年年底推迟至2026年。此外，两款计划中的捷豹车型预计也将延后数月发布。
捷豹路虎（JLR）在拥抱电动汽车方面比部分竞争对手行动更为迟缓，但近期已投资建设混合动力汽车生产线，同时为电动汽车生产做准备。
在马德尔任职期间，捷豹路虎（JLR）发布了一段颇具争议的30秒社交媒体视频，配以"绝不模仿"的标语，随后于去年11月推出了一款全新电动概念车。
捷豹路虎（JLR）的品牌重塑及广告宣传活动因未展示任何车辆，虽在社交媒体上迅速获得超1.6亿次浏览，但去年底也引发了网络舆论反弹，包括美国共和党人士和右翼评论员的批评。X平台所有者兼特斯拉首席执行官埃隆·马斯克在该平台发文质疑："你们卖车吗？"
这促使该汽车公司的董事总经理表示，他对视频中针对模特们的评论所表现出的‘卑劣仇恨和偏狭’感到失望。
路虎捷豹（JLR）已就此事寻求置评。
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