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And so it begins.
'What's a hand job?' - Jaguar marketing.
CET
The Motor City
Jaguar.
The creative director at Spark 44 should remember the lyrics by Chrissie Hynde: "Bad Boys Get Spanked". Bad Boy Jaguar - afraid NOT!!!
JV
Northville, Michigan
Jaguar.
So Jaguar's new demographic is alpha males making $150,000+ per year who read Playboy. New rock bands and gang bangers?
MP
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
"For men who'd like hand-jobs from beautiful women they hardly know."
Fabulous marketing idea, Peter! But we're gonna need a different pitchman. Colin Kaepernick is too... working class, if not outright dorky. He's just a young pup. Jaguar needs someone older, and more sophisticated.
What is he calling himself these days? Snoop Lion? A better choice, but we all see him rolling in a Bentley, or maybe, a Cadillac.
No, I see the Jaguar pitchman as someone who is at least a bit older, and with an edge. He's an IT geek with a hidden lust for life. He's traveled the world, and always has at least one young girl on his arm. Hooters is too boring for him; he's more likely to be found at a downtown strip club like Mary's. He's wealthier than you think; a self-made man and permanent entrepreneur. Maybe he's even killed a man. Who knows? He's our century's Gatsby.
I think Jaguar should call on John McAfee.
http://www.wweek.com/portland/blog-29632-software_millionaire_john_mcafee_says_he_is_now_ca.html
Apparently, he's in my 'hood, so I expect I'll run into him at some point.
Dave Guyette (AE's northwest correspondent)
Portlandia, oregon
The new F-Type.
Having owned a '64 E Type, I wanted to like the new F-type but it just missed the mark.
Tata, Jaguar, hello Porsche!
Mark Furrer
St. Louis, Missouri
The short answer? Yes.
Derrick Walker seems, from my side of the fence, to be a great guy and he was a wonderful owner. I hope the current owners give him a chance.
But really, the changes needed to get folks interested in IndyCar again are fundamental and will likely be labelled expensive. And that will be death to the innovation necessary.
Haven't we seen this picture before?
JPM
Atlanta, Georgia
Lyonheart!
Jaguar F-type? Someone else built it and got it right. It's called the Lyonheart.
David Morgan-Kirbu
Ottawa, Ontario, canada
Stop yelling.
CHECK OUT THE LYONHEART!!!!IT IS ALL THE 'JAGUAR' HYPE WANTS...
Jim Knaup
Hillsboro Beach, Florida
Editor's Note: We featured the Lyonheart Jaguar several weeks ago in "On The Table" and it truly is awesome. If you want to look through back issues of AE, scroll down to the bottom of the page in any section - "Rants," "On The Table," "Fumes," and "The Line" - and click on "next entry." - WG
Ouch, baby.
After what Jaguar's marketing department did to their logotype, replacing a beautiful decades old design that still worked with some fake chrome letters lifted from the packaging found in a men's room condom machine, none of their buffoonery surprises me.
Michael Ostrofsky
Mission San Jose, California
Jaguar.
The Jaguar spokesperson should be: "the World's Most Interesting Man".
Fred F.
Troy, Michigan
More on Jaguar.
Yikes. I thought I was reading "The Onion" for a minute there.
In my view, Jaguar = Classy + Sexy (and maybe a little old-fashioned and not-quite-reliable). But when you have that, why go anywhere else?
KMC
Plymouth, Michigan
Dude!
You've got to admire the outside the box thinking of Jaguar marketing. I don't know that I would have made the association between the F Type Jag and the F Body Camaro if they hadn't done it for me. But it sort of works, doesn't it? With its long hood, big honking V8, and handling inferior to Porsche or Corvette, they do have kind of a contemporary take on a '93 Z28, don't they? I'm just thinking that if they really want to hit it with the Red Bull crowd, a minor tweaking of the name could really take this thing over the top. Imagine the admiring glances in the Stop 'N Shop parking lot when you pulled up in your 2014 Jaguar WTF.
GW
San Francisco, California
The again, they may be on to something.
It's amazing that Jaguar has retained any cache, and is still riding on the XKE coattails: remember, this is half-a-fricking-century-ago. IMHO, they have built nothing remarkable since. Years back, I briefly owned a late model '86 XJS; ultra low mile, lady owner (who I knew personally), dealer serviced, garaged and pampered. Without a doubt, the biggest POS in the dozens of cars I've owned over my lifetime. The two inch thick stack of dealer invoices she handed me should have been fair warning. This was my one and only foray into "supercar" territory, but it taught me a valuable lesson; pricey, persnickety vanity chariots are for fools or the insecure with impulse cash burning a hole in their trousers.
Perhaps the new ad campaign is spot-on.
SAK
SOCal
Die, radio, die.
I don't think radio will go away anytime soon; I'd wager the CD player will disappear first (in fact the Chevy Sonic deletes the CD if you get the MyLink system.) But if/when it does wither away, I'll find it hard to sympathize. The only terrestrial radio I listen to anymore is for the morning drive programs, and since the one I listen to has been dropped (you've lost a listener, WRIF) I have no reason to care anymore. I happily pay for satellite radio despite the mediocre sound quality for two reasons; 1) the available content is head-and-shoulders above the wasteland of Top-40 and decades-old playlists that is FM radio, and 2) no f***ing commercials. Plugging up your station with 20-25 minutes of ads per hour is not a way to retain listeners.
Jim Z.
Detroit, Michigan
Still more Jaguar.
How about Jaguar's "Roar Responsibly" tagline. To me it implies that the volume only goes up to 9 and no matter what you do the tires don't squeal.
Steve B.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Go back to Le Mans first. And win.
Well my disappointment grows. First the F type arrives 20k too expensive. It should be competing with the Z4 and SLK, while the S model undercuts the boxster. Instead it’s in a no man’s land between Boxster and 911 and it isn’t sensational enough to carry that, instead looking like a twice the price reheated 370z. Jags were always good value, its oft forgotten that the stunning E type arrived at a similarly stunning price. The F type isn’t value.
So having messed up the pricing what’s next, oh yes marketing. A ‘Bad Boy’ campaign theme is so off base it *has* to be a joke. Most Jags are bought by women, and the men buying are not ‘bad boys’ (unless you count a mean line in orthodontic work).
I think I get it that they are trying to expand beyond the silver haired customer base and inject a touch of tech prowess, aggression and sex appeal to attract some BMW and Porsche intenders, but football players and porn are no way to go about it. A better idea, (re)enter the production class at Le Mans, win it and then market that 'bad boy'.
BB
Evanston, Illinois
Jag-off!
I read a print review of same and the review, in the "others you may consider" block, offered a Boxster, an Infiniti G37 rag top and an Aston Martin Vantage. Well, if they are confused I am too. This car is the answer to the question no one asked. Forgettable styling and over priced. But you can always count on that legendary Jag reliability!! Bad boy? How about Jag Off!!!
Bob M.
Latrobe, Pennsylvania
GMC.
"GMC - It's the Buick of trucks" Like Peter said in his conclusion about Jaguar's horrid marketing approach to the new F: At least it's honest.
CAE
Palm Springs, California
Goodbye to all that.
As far as the end of terrestrial radio goes, all I can tell you is that this past winter we had a new Passat for a loaner while one of our cars was in the shop. The satellite radio alone was enough for my wife and I to seriously consider $26k of crippling car payments. The rest of the car was ok too.
Jack Douglas
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Oh what a world, what a world...
Your selection of topics for 'On the Table' and the ordering was especially fortuitous this week. First we see that driving for pleasure is a misnomer and the bloom is off the rose with total miles driven in the country having peaked and now in decline, Secondly, we see that the NTSB is going to pounce on new research that will push the alcohol limit to .05 from .08% effectively bringing in the lawful elimination of having a drink then driving.
The future growth of driving is in the non-autonomous type. And the 'killer app' as the kids like to say will be getting shit-faced at dinner and after, and then having your car drive you home.
Looks like a win-win.
GWF
Kansas City
Ouch, Baby - Part II.
Hmm, Bad Boy Image, Alpha Male Customers, Questionable Reliablity...
So, Jaguar wants to be Dodge?
Infosaur
Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania