Loki joins SPECTRE

Tom Hiddelston, the actor best known as Loki in the film 'Thor', is an apparently evil mastermind (and as hammy as the best of Bond villains) in a TV commercial promoting Jaguar's new XE sedan.

Hiddleston is joined in the ad by Nicholas Hoult, playing a sort of dark-side 'Q'. Hoult appeared on screen as a child in 'About a Boy', but has more recently appeared in 'Mad Max: Fury Road'.

The commercial puts a bit of reverse spin on Jaguar's association with nefarious, secret agenty stuff on film. In the previous James Bond film, 'Skyfall', the good guys were making their escape from danger in an assertively driven XJ. However, in 'Die Another Day', the last Bond film to star Pierce Brosnan, the Jaguar XKR appearing was driven by one of the villains.

For the TV commercial, which clearly took its tone and style from 'Skyfall', Jaguar has apparently decided that the bad guys make more interesting characters. Hiddleston brings a bit of Loki to his role as a Blofeld/Number One type of character aiming to dominate the world – or just the compact luxury sedan market?

It's probably best to watch the video for a clearer understanding, but motoring.com.au questioned Jaguar Land Rover Australia boss Matthew Wiesner about the commercial during the local launch of the XE (pictured). If the message seemed confused (good and bad are two sides of the same moral coin perhaps, and Bond himself is a flawed character?), Wiesner had an explanation of sorts.

"What we want to use this creative for is actually start to dial up the whole 'Britishness' of what Jaguar is... with three German brands in a similar space," he said.

"It flows on the theme of 'good to be bad'," he added, acknowledging the "attitude" on display in the commercial.

Hiddleston is a good actor who makes the commercial disturbing, despite the dialogue and the hamminess, but the whole thing is carried off with tongue firmly planted in cheek. The British actor is, in one sense, just the ultimate expression of naughtiness once a hallmark of Jaguar drivers. His character in this commercial appears to be at the extreme end of the moral spectrum, and Arthur Daley is much closer to the middle.

The commercial – for a company that won Le Mans three years in a row during the 1950s – seems to insinuate that 'gentleman drivers' are not winners, and Jaguar drivers need not be gentlemen. Wiesner sees the commercial as a shout-out to Jaguar enthusiasts from the early days, "if you go back to what Jaguar was many moons ago... colourful characters and dynamic types who used to drive Jaguars."

And the commercial is a medium for distancing Jaguar and the XE from German brands that suffer a bit of "same/same" perception, Wiesner says.