Jaguar Car 4:23 pm
One of the nice things about driving a Jaguar is coming across someone else driving a Jaguar. It almost feels like you are both in a club, not a secret club, but something close to it. You look at each other’s car, the color, the model and then acknoledge each other and move on. A simple moment in life, but nice all the same. I wonder if we all owned Jaguars would road rage be a thing of the past?
Probably not, but we’d all be a bit more polite that is for sure.
Jaguar Car 4:17 pm
Interesting thoughts on what is wrong with Jaguar and what can can done to fix Jaguar. While the article is a year old, I think most of the issues discussed are still viable.
Jaguar Woes
by Joe Sherlock
Kitty Losses: Jaguar took a 534 million-pound ($1.02 billion) charge to cover a writedown on the company’s investments after losing 601.1 million pounds ($1.148 billion) in 2003, double the previous year. Worldwide, Jaguar sells about 120,000 vehicles per year. So, just to break even, the price of each vehicle would have to be increased by almost $10,000! And, to cover a decent profit and the losses from the drop in the value of the dollar, a price increase of $15,000 per vehicle would be needed. Which would price Jaguar completely out of the market.
Justauto.com’s Dave Leggett has written: “The big question for Jaguar is this: how much of its losses are down to an excessive cost base (basically too many assembly plants), weak dollar against sterling (certainly a factor) or just plain inferior product lines/wrong pricing versus strong competition – especially in the US market?“
Jaguar will continue to lose money until 2007. One of the problems is the dollar’s decline. By late 2004 the British pound had reached $1.86. When we vacationed in the UK in 2001, it was less than $1.40. Jaguar prices haven’t changed much since then, so it’s selling cars to Americans at a 25% discount.
But It’s Not Just The Money: Jim Burt wrote in The Car Connection: “Jaguar has well-documented problems – an X-Type that is not seen as a legitimate Jaguar; British manufacturing costs and quality; and an S-Type whose pedigree is only slightly less suspect than the X-Type’s and of questionable design taste. Advertising can be added to that list of problems. … At the heart of the Jag problem is, “What is a Jaguar in the 21st Century?” and “Why should anyone aspire to own a Jaguar in a crowded field of worthy and better put together vehicles from BMW, Mercedes, Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti?”“
Jaguar Undefined: In October 2004, AutoWeek concurred with Burt in an October, 2004 article: “Fifteen years after buying Jaguar Cars Ltd., Ford Motor Co. is still struggling with a simple question: What is a Jaguar? The automaker is stuck between Jaguar opulence and Ford bean counting. Jaguar’s XJ flagship has a cutting-edge platform but a built-to-price interior. And the X-Type is a mass-market sedan gussied up in luxury garb.” Eric Noble, president of the Car Lab consultancy in Orange, Calif., says Jaguar “blew it” by giving “abominable” interiors to a sedan that goes for $61,495, including freight. “The interiors just reek of Ford,” Noble says. “How is that part of the Jaguar heritage? The XJ is a fantastic platform. That Ford bean counters are unwilling to spend another $250 on piece costs for the interior is a crime. They aren’t willing to admit the problem, much less fix it.” My take – if, after 15 years of ownership, Ford still can’t answer the What-is-Jaguar question, then the brand is doomed to suffer the same mediocre fate as the present Mercury and Lincoln offerings. Which is not good.
Telling Symptoms: In September 2004, Jaguar announced that it is pulling out of Formula One racing at the end of this season after just two top-three finishes since joining the circuit in 2000. A Jaguar spokesman said, “… it was our collective view that it is time for Jaguar cars to focus 100 percent on our core business.” Yeah … selling cars. And making good ones. And making money.
Jaguar has been making cars in Coventry since 1928. Ford Motor Co. announced that it is planning to close that plant (where the XJ sedan and XK sports car are made) at a cost of more 1,100 jobs in the face of falling sales and plant overcapacity.
It’s a shame. Jaguar has a great heritage but even The Faithful are dismayed. A Jaguar enthusiast rolled up at the firm’s Coventry plant last week in a black E-Type with the words “RIP – JAG” stuck to the hood.
The November, 2004 Consumer Reports survey placed the Jaguar X-Type and S-Type sedans in the “least reliable” column. Jaguar had a whopping 38.3% drop in August 2004 sales. The all-new XJ flagship sedan is off by 46.8 percent. I guess people don’t like the new design. Or maybe it’s the recent devastating report on AutoWeek’s long-term test XJ – reliability and quality problems combined with bad dealer experiences. And when AutoWeek finished their one-year test, they found that the resale value of the XJ was about half the original purchase price. Ouch!
Automobile magazine also reported problems with their Jaguar XJ in the April 2004 issue. Jamie Kitman – a very knowledgeable writer who has appeared in other car buff mags – pens a column, ‘Noise, Vibration and Harshness.‘ April’s is titled ‘Crapulent Luxury‘ and tells the tale of making an uneventful drive in an economy Mitsubishi from New York to Detroit in order to pick up a luxurious 2004 Jaguar XJ8 sedan. Then things got eventful. Warning lights flashed for no reason. After a tire blowout on the road, Kitman couldn’t change the tire because the factory wrench stripped three of the “cheap, soft and unremovable aluminum glamorizing covers on the lug nuts.” The $66,000 Jaguar was hauled away on a flatbed, with an $800 alloy wheel ruined and no replacement in-stock.
Kitman’s article arrived (via one of my car buddies) in the mail along with a separate package from Jaguar USA, urging me to buy a new 2004 XJ8. Dripping with unplanned irony, the package contained an 80-page special report on the technically sophisticated beast, prepared by – guess who? – the staff of Automobile. After reading Kitman’s column about the horrors of the 2004 “advanced” Jaguar, I’m definitely keeping my aging but reliable 1996 XJ6 Vanden Plas. It has never left me stranded. My straight-six Jag seems every bit as fast as a V-8 Jaguar sedan I test drove. When my Jag reaches 100,000 miles in a few years, I may get the front-end repainted (to eliminate many years of stone chip accumulation) but, at this point, I have no interest in replacing this fine-looking, trustworthy machine with the kind of techno-nightmare described by Kitman.
Looks Are Everything: I have closely examined a 2004 Jaguar XJ sedan. It looked far less impressive in person than in photos – tall and ungainly compared with its predecessor – parked nearby. The lines were too Ford-ish with not enough Jaguar DNA. The interior was generic-luxury and, except for the J-shifter, it could have passed for a Lexus or Cadillac. Nice car but not good enough to be Jaguar’s flagship. The Jaguar S-Type is a unique, eye-catching design but something about the proportions is ‘off’. And the grille needs to be bolder and better defined. I once saw a white S-Type coming toward me – all I could see was a shiny oval surrounded by white. It reminded me of a urinal. The old Jaguar grilles had relatively thick-walled vertical ribs which were visible from far away. From a hundred feet away, the new S-Type has much thinner ribs which visually disappear. The old XK-140 oval and rib grille (from the 1950s) was a one-piece die casting with thicker ribs and was probably cheaper to produce than today’s multi-piece assemblies. Too bad they don’t go back to the classic design and construction.
Fixing a Broken Kitty: If I were running Jaguar, I’d make the following changes:
1. Stop importing the entry-level X-Type to the U.S. At $36,000, it’s not really “entry-level” anyway. And it is cheapening the brand. If non-U.S. sales aren’t enough to support the model, kill it off.
2. Do a mild restyle of the S-Type and move production to the Lincoln plant in Wixom, Michigan. The plant has been able to manufacture cars with pretty good quality in the past – something the British plants have not been able to accomplish. North American production would protect Jaguar from the winds of currency shifts. Build the S-Type alongside the Lincoln LS – they share the same platform anyway. Stretch the wheelbase to give the S-Type more interior room. Use Connolly hides and import the woodwork from England. Price Jaguar models at a $6,000 more than comparable LS models. This would reduce the selling price of the V-8 S-Type by about $7,000 – and improve sales remarkably. The “entry level” S-Type V-6 would sell for about $40,000.
3. Leave the XJ sedan and XK sports car production in the U.K. Establish a “crash programme” to improve quality in a drastic way. Add more luxury to the interior. If these changes require bumping the selling price of the cars a couple of grand, do so.
4. For every future model, Jaguar must use Lexus as the benchmark for quality.
I believe these four changes would result in a good-selling brand with a good reputation. And I believe that Jaguar would finally make a profit. Quit making ‘problem‘ cars, cheapie cars, market-segmentation cars and line-extending cars. Make Jaguar the jewel of Ford Motor Company. It deserves nothing less.
This article can be found here: http://www.joesherlock.com/Jaguar.html
Jaguar Car 1:22 pm
Jaguar this year will cut the number of ex-lease used vehicles entering the used car market in the US, having had to remarket 27,000 used cars last year, mostly ex-lease X-Types and S-Types and equivalent to 89% of Jaguar’s total new car sales.
This year Jaguar expects 21,000 units expected to return off-lease, according to C.J. O’Donnell, Jaguar Cars North America executive vice president of marketing, who said Jaguar stopped selling cars to Enterprise Rent-a-Car last year and will end deliveries to Hertz in the second quarter of this year.
(Automotive News, 27 February)
Jaguar Car 11:06 am
Jaguar must “find a way to fund its own future or face the consequences.”
That’s what Ford Motor Co. Chairman and CEO Bill Ford, Jr. told journalists in Detroit about Ford’s “Big Cat.” And the consequences? While the article didn’t state if Ford, Jr. was asked that question, a high level director did answer and said Blue Oval may put the luxury marque into “exit mode,” either shutting it down or selling it.
Ford purchased Jaguar in 1989, and the brand is part of Ford’s Premier Auto Group (PAG) which includes Aston Martin and Volvo. But Jaguar’s S-Type, X-Type, and XJ sedans are among the lowest selling vehicles in PAG. Ford hasn’t given up on the band just yet, having infused $2.1 billion last year after the brand lost $745 million in 2004.
Newly appointed Ford of Europe chairman Lewis Booth has thus embarked on an ambitious plan to preserve the Big Cat’s remaining lives. Besides touting the new XK coupe (pictured) and convertible, Jaguar is planning to sell fewer but well-equipped vehicles, making Jags more exclusive. This is similar to Porsche, whose vehicles make the highest profit per each one sold.
Other changes include updating Jaguar’s manufacturing facilities and modernizing its models’ sheet-metal.
With Jaguar’s rich heritage and evocative design language, it’s been frustrating for company officials and marque afficianados to see the Big Cat falter so badly for so many years. It is hard to see the Blue Oval shuttering the brand, but we wouldn’t rule out Dearborn eventually seeking out a suitor if the latest capital infusion fails.
[Source: The Sydney Morning Herald]
Jaguar Car 9:55 pm
Four-Wheel Sex Appeal
By VALERIE GIBSON, TORONTO SUN
Our Val makes heads spin in her sporty and sexy Mazda Miata. Like her, it’s responsive, easy to handle and reliable. (Laura Gallella/SUN) If a hot car is, as some say, an extension of a man’s personal part — what is it for women drivers? Her power tool? Her road armour? A two-fingered gesture to men? An extension of her personality? Whatever it means to a the female population, hot, sexy cars, especially convertibles, are of growing interest to women, especially if single. Everyone accepts that men, cars and sex are connected — like Crazy Glue. Nothing new about that. Wherever there are hot cars, there are hot guys — and hot gals, but traditionally as accessories. For an illustration of what turns a man on most, you only had to check out the Auto Show in town (it ends today at 6 p.m). The sleekest, hottest cars brought the big crowds of guys to an orgasmic euphoria. But this year, the show had even more female visitors than ever before, many, it seems, getting their own private thrill from the metal visual feast. Which isn’t surprising.
COURTING WOMEN
It’s no secret carmakers are courting women when it comes to car design — undoubtedly because statistics indicate women control 80% of car-buying decisions and make 50% of new vehicle purchases. But, although carmakers like GM say their research shows top priorities for women are safety, fuel economy and comfort items, the sheer sexiness of a car is increasingly important to them. “I think both men and women now want a strong visual experience with a car,” says Stew Low, director of public relations, GM Canada. He cites new convertibles such as the Pontiac Solstice and upcoming Saturn Sky as cars with sex appeal that women will like. “They’re well-priced and designed and offer the ‘free spirit’ feeling of a top down that they’re after,” he says.
While women may not see the car as a sexual beast to ride and control like Freud said happens when we ride horses, it increasingly has to make a personal statement. Women are looking for a car to reflect who they are, what they’re striving for, where they are in life, what turns them on. And, although women are known to be reluctant to spend big money on a car, there’s an increasing number who will who are moving into the male dominated and rarefied atmosphere of high end performance cars. Paul Lazzari, sales manager for Ferrari Maserati of Ontario, says more women are buying their costly, sleek, sexy vehicles nowadays. “Women, especially single women, often see owning one of our cars as a symbol of their personal achievement, a statement they’ve made it,” he says. Ferraris start at $250,000 and Maseratis from $125,000.
A little less pricey but very sexy, is the new Jaguar XK8 convertible which, a spokesperson for Jaguar said, is “exciting the women as much as the men.” Sixty percent of Jaguar buyers are men and 40% are women — an increase in recent years, they say. For me, I prefer my car to say who I am rather than where I am in life. so I own a Mazda Miata — small, sexy, sporty, responsive and easy to handle. It fits and suits me. It’s also very reliable (which is more than can be said for my recent relationships).
LOVE AFFAIR
In fact, for some women like myself, our car often becomes our love affair. Hey, if you can’t get a guy — get a car (could be an ad). Don’t sneer — men have treated their cars like the love of their life forever. Women can get a similar attachment and, for sure, we always name our cars. The car love of my life was an original Mini Cooper S which had an equally mini steering wheel and short gear shift.
It was a gutsy, powerful little car and despite being very cramped inside I have fond memories of steaming up the windows. But for male attention, nothing, I’ve found, beats the effect of driving a macho, power-plus car such as a Porsche Boxster. The attention doubles, nay, trebles. Linda Leatherdale, Sun business editor, agrees. A glamourous blonde who gets attention wherever she goes, says when she drove a convertible Cadillac XLR last year, male heads really snapped around, especially with her top down — car, that is. “I’d love to own one,” she says.
So while what is known as the “chick car,” (cute and well-priced), may still be the preference of many women, car manufacturers are finally paying more attention to the increasing number of women who want what men have always craved — sex on wheels.
Jaguar Car and Jaguar Car Models and Jaguar XJ6 4:15 am
Rubbish Cars We Love: Jaguar XJ6 – Squaring Up For a Fight
In 1986 Jaguar introduced the XJ40, which was essentially an XJ6 with rectangular headlights and fewer curves. And essentially people were miffed about it too.
Slippery Slope:
The rot set in with Jaguar’s XJS in the early-eighties. The Mark 1 was a Formica junkyard drinking more petrol than a double-decker Humvee. Although a change of image was needed, Jaguar felt they had hit the jackpot with the XJ6 and kept tweaking through economy. ‘Make money by saving money’, that’s the big cat way.
While continuing to play with the XJS (a car they would finally get right about a week before discontinuing it), Jaguar hoped the XJ40 would bring in some much needed cash by appealing more to the masses than the offensively minted. This new XJ had been on the cards since the late seventies, and not much had changed on the drawing board over half a decade later.
Just when everyone else was starting to think round again, Jaguar went square. Co-designed by Pininfarina, the normally reliable Italian had a field day with the XJ40; “A corner here, a right angle there, and how about a pasta bake tin for the headlights, no?” Lord alone knows if he approved the dreadful cloth seats as well.
Public reaction to this thrifty Jag was grumbly at best. Though time has been generous to the XJ40. Find a good one and it might even be worth taking to your school reunion. Find a bad one and you’ll be towing it there.
Sit Down, Sir:
Alpine forestry interior was standard for all Jaguars in the 1970’s/80’s. Even as a cost costing exercise the XJ40 was no different. Cloth and plastic was the bargain basement option, along with a woefully pathetic 2.9 litre engine. If you purchased one of these you were a loser, no question. Why anyone would struggle to buy the bottom range model of anything is beyond us.
Thankfully Jag soon dropped the 2.9 and replaced it with a slightly more willing 3.2, promptly instructing dealers that anyone ordering cloth trim be reported to the Wild Wildlife Fund. Those poor cows had to make a living somehow.
You Will Or You Won’t:
Nothing was particularly wrong with the revamped XJ6. It was a cheap Jag when Jags were getting cheaper. It still bared all the hallmarks of the brand: smooth ride, long wheelbase, unpredictable circuitry. But for many it was not what was missing that caused concern…being flat enough to use as a dinner table is one thing, having the world’s most ill advised front-end is something else entirely.
That the public initially baulked at the XJ40’s headlights has only worked in its favour on the used market. Take a look around and all the most affordable retro-Jags are 40s. Plus those lights do not seem like quite such a balls-up idea nowadays. They fit the old thunderbus’ brutally angular lines perfectly. Symmetry they call it. The S Type, that’s what you call a real cock-up. If you want a Mark 2 , people; just buy a Mark 2.
Check or Cheque?:
Like us you have decided a cheap Jaguar is the car of your impoverished dreams. How can you ensure your car has not been used as student marijuana dealer’s weekend ride? Or worse still, has been sitting gathering woodworm in a dead man’s garage for the past decade?
The problem is that those in the know have been snapping up quality XJ40s for a while now. Most of the best examples change hands through club ownership (try the Jaguar Drivers site), with everything that’s left enticing the clinically gullible in high street car parks.
If you desperately want a square-jawed XJ6 you can buy one for less than £500. If you want your money to last longer than a fruit fly you will need to up this amount to at least £1000. Still not bad money for a luxury car that cost somewhere in the region of £30,000 new.
Jaguar Car 4:02 am
Founded as the Swallow Sidecar Company in 1922, by two motorcycle enthusiasts, William Lyons and William Walmsley, it was renamed Jaguar Cars after World War II because of the unfavourable connotations of the initials, SS. The company is now owned by the Ford Motor Company.
The company was originally located in Blackpool but relocated to Coventry to be at the heart of the British motor industry. In 1960 Jaguar bought the Daimler car company (not to be confused with Daimler-Benz), from the Birmingham Small Arms Company (BSA). Since the late 1960s, Daimler has been little more than a brand name for Jaguar’s most luxurious saloons.
Jaguar merged with the British Motor Corporation (the Austin-Morris combine) to form British Motor Holdings in 1966. After merger with Leyland and Rover, the resultant company then became British Leyland Motor Corporation in 1968.
Financial difficulties and the publication of the Ryder Report led to effective nationalisation in 1975 and it became British Leyland Ltd known just as BL. Under British Leyland’s ownership, quality control issues became a problem and the marque’s sales began to decline, particularly in the United States.
In 1984, Jaguar was floated off as a separate company on the stock market – one of the Thatcher government’s many privatizations. Under new chairman Sir John Egan, the quality and reliability of the cars was improved significantly and sales again began to rise. The company was subsequently taken over by Ford in a hostile takeover in 1990. In 1999 it was made part of Ford’s new Premier Automotive Group along with Aston Martin and Volvo Cars. Land Rover was added to the group in 2001 following its purchase from BMW.
Today, Jaguars are assembled at Castle Bromwich in Birmingham and Halewood in Liverpool. The historic Browns Lane plant closed in 2005 leaving aluminium vehicle production at Castle Bromwich and steel at Halewood.
Jaguar Car 10:47 pm
Jaguar Cars seems to be stepping up in its idea of becoming hip. The article below states that Jaguar will now be available for your mobile phone.
InAphone Group has announced the launch of Jaguar Mobile Content. Jaguar Cars has licensed the rights to InAphone Group to create and publish mobile phone games, ringtones, themes and wallpapers for the automaker. Jaguar sees the entry into mobile content as an exciting opportunity and views licensing as an integral part of its marketing mix. As a part of the license agreement, InAphone Group will offer distribution of officially licensed Jaguar content for 3rd party mobile storefronts and Jaguar approved marketing partners.
Jaguar Mobile Content will consist of:
* A premium Jaguar Game
* Jaguar arcade-styled game
* Wallpapers and animations showing the Jaguar brand
* Mobile Themes with the new Jaguar XK and classic models
* Video Clips of the Jaguar cars and history
“Jaguar provides us with a rich history and exciting products for us to develop mobile content “, said Michael Buch Sandager, Chief Operating Officer, he adds “InAphone believes that the Jaguar Mobile Content will have a huge appeal and that many channels are eagerly awaiting this product.”
The content will be launched over the next few months following Jaguar’s launch of the new Jaguar XK, and available for Operators and Aggregators world wide.
Jaguar Car 9:57 pm
| Jaguar Reveals All-New 2007 XK Convertible at Canadian International Auto Show |
 TORONTO, ONTARIO–(CCNMatthews – Feb. 15, 2006) – Today marks the Canadian reveal of the all-new 2007 XK Convertible.
Designed in parallel with the Coupe as a model in its own right, the new XK Convertible uses the same advanced aluminum body structure technology to achieve excellent rigidity while minimizing weight. At just 1,635kg, the new Convertible – lighter than both its predecessor and rivals – is the lightest car in its competitive set. A 300bhp, 4.2-litre V8 engine and Jaguar Sequential Shift steering-wheel-mounted gear change controls ensure rapid performance 0-100 km/h in 6.3 seconds and an electronically limited top speed of 250 km/h. The luxurious triple-lined, fabric roof – which can be powered up or down in less than 18 seconds – stows fully out of sight beneath an aluminum tonneau cover when retracted. A roll-over protection system comprising two ‘hidden’ aluminum hoops that deploy in the event of an incident is standard on all XK Convertibles. “The all-new XK was designed from the outset to be a beautiful convertible,” said Gary Moyer, president of Jaguar Canada. “It represents the very best of modern engineering in perfect harmony with exquisite Jaguar design and we expect consumers will be as excited about it as we are.” The launch of the all-new Jaguar XK marks a new era for Jaguar in terms of both design and engineering, and reinforces the marque’s reputation for building beautiful, fast cars that are as rewarding to drive as they are gorgeous to look at. The all-new 2007 XK Coupe will be priced from $103,995 (CAD) and the 2007 XK Convertible will be offered from $113,995(CAD). |
Jaguar Car 9:48 pm
After a labour of love by a Christchurch car restorer, a rare gem is about to embark on a world tour.
She was found rundown and rusty in a Canterbury garage, but after a 3-year facelift, the Jaguar Abbott is ready to be shown to the world.
A Christchurch car restorer paid $75,000 for the rundown car shell, and along with a team of experts has returned the Abbott to it’s former glory.
The car is now valued at over half a million dollars, but won’t be gracing New Zealand roads for long.
Heading via ship to Germany on Sunday, the car will begin a world tour that her creators hope will take the world by storm.
Click here to see the Jaguar video.
Please send any and all news about Jaguar’s to me.
