Tuesday 1st March 2011

Jaguar E-Type At Geneva

Classic sportscar is celebrated as Jaguar looks to the future

---

The inimitable Norman Dewis

Ahead of the delegation of 50 owner-driven E-Types that are heading to Geneva from Britain this week, Jaguar lined up a juicy selection of cars at the Hotel du Parc des Eaux Vives yesterday to kick off local celebrations for the famous sportscar's 50th anniversary.

Legendary Jaguar development engineer Norman Dewis was guest of honour at a 50th anniversary dinner last night, and he entertained fellow guests with tales of his famous overnight dash from Coventry to Geneva for the E-Type's first motor show.

Setting off from Coventry at 7.45pm, he arrived the following morning at Hotel du Parc des Eaux Vives twelve minutes before his 10am deadline - averaging 68mph for a journey that pretty much pre-dated the motorway network. The hotel was used as a base for demo drives for potential customers wowed by the E-Type at the show - drives which according to Norman got faster andfaster as the E-Type competed with demo drivers from Mercedes and Ferrari. "At the end of the week we were really going for it, and customers were getting out with white knuckles," he quipped.

Jaguar design boss Ian Callum was also at the event to sing the praises of the E-Type's design. "I've often wondered what made the E-Type so special, and it's this - Malcolm Sayer the designer went back to first principles, wrapping the mechanicals as tightly as possible, and keeping the form pure. We still try to put that into our cars today."

Global brand director Adrian Hallmark also spoke about the future of the Jaguar marque, and how the company intends to 'leverage' the brand in future. "The XKR-S we're showing this year is distinctive and bold, and opens up the envelope of performance and styling," he said.

"Jaguar's first priority is to leverage the full potential of cars we already have. Our powertrains don't meet all market needs - for instance 70 per cent of sales in the XF sector are 2.0 diesels and we don't compete. And Audi has moved the game on from where BMW left it, so 50:50 weight distribution is no longer sufficient and you've got to have 4x4 as well. If Jaguar is to be successful in global markets, we can't just rely on the powertrains we've grown up with."

Jaguar's move back into the smaller executive car sector was also mentioned, with Adrian saying that 'reaching down into lower price segments is very important to us' before jokingly thanking the assembled media for providing "drawings of cars that we haven't even designed yet".

Wherever that all takes us, the principles that inspired the E-Type remain true at Jaguar today it seems. "We are determined to be leaders in style, technology and driver involvement," he said.

[cml]

"Jaguar's first priority is to leverage blah blah"

Marketing speak, babble, bobble. Meet all market needs? What about making the world's best luxury sport saloon and leave it at that? Let somebody else build 2.0 diesels. <sigh>

Everybody appears to have world domination in all sectors as a target. If accounts and marketing run a car company you know it doesn't end well, you need engineers and drivers.

Still, new cars are proper contenders, even if they look less than cat-like. Plus its alive, unlike nearly every other British car 'brand'. So thats nice.

[please build just one of the fab concept cars though, pretty-please]

[jake15919]

cml said:

"Jaguar's first priority is to leverage blah blah"

Marketing speak, babble, bobble. Meet all market needs? What about making the world's best luxury sport saloon and leave it at that? Let somebody else build 2.0 diesels. <sigh>

I think you are confusing marketing speak with basic economics. Development costs spread over a few cars aimed at a restricted number of buyers equals expensive product, low sales and little or no profit. Costs spread over a larger range of cars aimed at a larger number of buyers equals cheaper product, more sales, and higher profits, all things being equal.

[Andrew[MG]]

I'd love to stand and watch 50 e-types driving past!

[dinkel]

[sprinter1050]

They should have filed the tops of those rivets off ^- be worth at least another 10 mph

I wonder if M Brundle Esq is taking his rather lovely example (that he took Jake Humphrey sp? in to that F1 race) to Geneva ?

[Salom]

sprinter1050 said:

They should have filed the tops of those rivets off ^- be worth at least another 10 mph

I wonder if M Brundle Esq is taking his rather lovely example (that he took Jake Humphrey sp? in to that F1 race) to Geneva ?

Yes he is, (confirmed via Twitter)

[cml]

jake15919 said:

cml said:

"Jaguar's first priority is to leverage blah blah"

Marketing speak, babble, bobble. Meet all market needs? What about making the world's best luxury sport saloon and leave it at that? Let somebody else build 2.0 diesels. <sigh>

I think you are confusing marketing speak with basic economics. Development costs spread over a few cars aimed at a restricted number of buyers equals expensive product, low sales and little or no profit. Costs spread over a larger range of cars aimed at a larger number of buyers equals cheaper product, more sales, and higher profits, all things being equal.

No I'm not. I've got a sertificate in economics

And I've been to enough business meetings to spot marketing talk. It is the brand manager talking there.

If "expensive product, low sales and little or no profit" means the world gains some lovely cars - what's wrong with that?

If "cheaper product, more sales, and higher profits" means we get loads of bland 2.0 diesels with lots of cup holders - what's so great about that?

Take your point though, the company has to earn money for shreholders/owners obviously, they paid a lot for it. Otherwise, well, it would just be making nice cars, and we can't have that.

Note: warning tongue/cheek may be in use

[Nutkin]

sprinter1050 said:

They should have filed the tops of those rivets off ^- be worth at least another 10 mph

I wonder if M Brundle Esq is taking his rather lovely example (that he took Jake Humphrey sp? in to that F1 race) to Geneva ?

We saw him yesterday leading the pack of 50 that left the Jaguar plants at coventry.

Some beautiful cars driving through Warwickshire.

[jake15919]

cml said:

Note: warning tongue/cheek may be in use

You know, I very nearly bit then.

[soad]

Andrew[MG] said:

I'd love to stand and watch 50 e-types driving past!

Yeah, many would. Sure captures the eye!

[wedgea]

They all looked lovely headng out of Goodwood Hotel this morning - Mr Brundle definitely did not lead them out - they were off to enjoy the Goodwood hill prior to heading into europe. Felt jolly lucky to see the cars and have breakfast in the same room as a racing legend

[jamespink]

Nutkin said:

We saw him yesterday leading the pack of 50 that left the Jaguar plants at coventry.

Some beautiful cars driving through Warwickshire.

I saw 77RW in Stratford upon Avon a week or two back, so beautiful and sounding great!

[jagfan2]

jamespink said:

I saw 77RW in Stratford upon Avon a week or two back, so beautiful and sounding great!

Must be one of the best detailed cars in history, check out pic 4, thats SHINY!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-12396484

[urquattro]

Mine off to North London Jaguar Dealer for display all of March, I couldnt afford Geneva jaunt so car having holiday and spit and polish event for the curtain slide back...............
Mine is just an working class car and an o.a.p. toy;)

[bobberz]

Some lovely motors there! Particularly like this one:

Reminds me of a C, D, and E-type all rolled in one.

Surprised there's not many people commenting on this thread, considering the bombshell that some AWD Jags are in our future. IIRC the X-type was available in AWD so there is a precedent, but I've a feeling that that's not the sort of car that Mr. Hallmark is talking about. Actually, the term he uses is "4x4", so is a Jag SUV on the cards?

My thought is that Range-Rover already fills that niche, but then Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes have done pretty well with their SUVs, and Ferrari seem to be inching ever closer to producing an off-roader with the prancing horse on the bonnet. And I'm not talking about a 308 rally car.

[davepoth]

Jaguar don't need to do an SUV thankfully. It would rob sales from Land Rover anyway. But AWD saloons sound like a pretty good idea.

[robsco]

They don't make cars that look like this anymore. Beautiful, voluptuous curves.

[urquattro]

bobberz said:

Some lovely motors there! Particularly like this one:

Reminds me of a C, D, and E-type all rolled in one.

Surprised there's not many people commenting on this thread, considering the bombshell that some AWD Jags are in our future. IIRC the X-type was available in AWD so there is a precedent, but I've a feeling that that's not the sort of car that Mr. Hallmark is talking about. Actually, the term he uses is "4x4", so is a Jag SUV on the cards?

My thought is that Range-Rover already fills that niche, but then Porsche, Audi, and Mercedes have done pretty well with their SUVs, and Ferrari seem to be inching ever closer to producing an off-roader with the prancing horse on the bonnet. And I'm not talking about a 308 rally car.

I think thats exactly what this car is an early/development version of an E Type, probably an evolution of the D Type, I think two were made, 1 destroyed and this one escaped into private ownership. Maybe corrected on this.

[I WISH]

Gorgeous .......... just gorgeous.

[DJC]

Its E2A isnt it?