Jaguar Cars Ltd. has taken 10,000 customer deposits globally for the upcoming XF sedan, including about 3,000 in the United States. That’s a promising start. Jaguar executives say they released the figures to show the impact of the XF even without advertising or cars available to test drive.
Instead, Jaguar has combined dealer training with posh customer-only events. The company put together a 21-city road show with a few demo XFs in tow, training entire dealerships at once. Dealerships then conducted events for loyal customers and luxury intenders.
Ken Gorin, owner of The Collection in Miami, has 80 sold orders from holding two events, one at the dealership and another in the Miami Design District.
“I sold 30 XFs the first night,” Gorin says. “I haven’t seen a reaction like that since the (Porsche) Boxster came out. When people hear that it’s $49,900 with a standard V8, they say, ‘Sign me up.’ ”
Irma Elder, who owns four Jaguar stores in the Detroit area, hosted an owner-only event at the Fox Theatre and didn’t invite the media. She has about 50 sold orders in hand.
The United Kingdom, Europe and North America will all begin selling the XF on March 10. The simultaneous launch is a first for Jaguar. It used to do regional rollouts, with the United States getting cars up to six months after Europe. But Jaguar has proved equal to the task, says Mike O’Driscoll, managing director of Jaguar Cars Ltd.
Marketing also is different. TV commercials will continue in the vein of past “Gorgeous” ads. But Jaguar is returning to a more masculine stance with its print message. That includes running in magazines such as GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire and Vanity Fair.
Source: Autoweek
