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Ladies, Your Jag XF Awaits!

Jag_xk Okay so I write a lot about cars.  Did you know the new marketing VP for Jag North America is named Marti?  Check out this gal’s comments who has just moved from Volvo to Jag, her complaint, when she goes for an errand in her Jag, she has to dress for the occasion, seems everyone wants to talk about her car!   

Sounds like a dream job to me, well except for having to do the makeup and pantyhose thing to drive the XF…..Check it out at Marti.  Do you like the Gorgeous campaign? What have we learned about product life cycles, re inventing brands, and identifying with the customer as well as luxury placement that reflects in this article? Hey  is this managerial accounting or marketing, who cares if you get to be the Marketing VP for Jag?

The photo is the new XK that is so popular it is back ordered.  The XF she mentions is available only if you are the Marketing VP, but click here for the show version of the XF.

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4 responses to “Ladies, Your Jag XF Awaits!”

  1. Jordan McClary Avatar
    Jordan McClary

    OK so is she trying to market this thing like a dress designer by calling it chic? If so why would they need to put a 420 horsepower motor in it that only raises the cost of the vehicle because of the more expensive equipment required to power it? Would it be more cost effective to still put a stout motor say a 5.4 triton in it? I for one know that the majority of the people who buy luxury cars like the BMW 5 series and mercedes SL500 don’t buy them to race and probably won’t ever use half of that motors potential. I would think the car would still sell and you could make a bigger profit by using a motor alread readily available to Jag. If they did they would probably end up killing themselves from driving a car with more power than they knew how to control. Isn’t this kinda the reason why not just anybody can fly the spae shuttle?? lol.
    Ok I know the space shuttle comparison is a stretch but you definetly get the idea. I just think they could be more cost effective by still using a potent motor that is already being utilized and a little cheaper to produce. By the way, did you know that the Corvette Z06 uses titanium on some of its internals parts. That explains why they practically want an arm and a leg for the vehicle, but I bet it will last forever with rare metals like those rotating around inside it.

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  2. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Jordan, thanks for making a great TQM point! Actually I disagree and so does the record for this sort of thing. GM got in trouble when in the 1970s. someone noticed that Chevy motors were showing up in Oldsmobiles, yikes, I paid an Olds price I want an Olds motor. Back then Olds put 6-8 bolts in their valve gasket covers so they did not leak, Chevy used four and they leaked. Porsche tried the same thing with the Porsche 924-it had an Audi not a designed in Zuffenhausen Porsche engine. In both cases, customers rebelled saying it was not the real thing. There is a great quote that used to hang in Baskin Robbins by John Ruskin about how someone can always make something cheaper, the implication being at some point it ain’t the real thing.
    Would you buy a Rolex made in China-sure there are knock offs that are but
    Fiat owns Ferrari. Would you buy a Ferrari with a Fiat engine?
    One of the things Ford made clear when it bought Jag was that it would remain Jag? Now, why class?
    Because if you put a Ford 5.4 triton in a Jag you have a Mustang, not a Jag. Jag sells the fact that THEY not Ford won Lemans in the mid 1950s, sure Ford won in 1967 but that won’t justify putting a Ford V 8 in a Jag or an Aston.
    Ditto French fashions or high dollar perfume. THere is a point where outsourcing won’t work ask Mike Dell about Indian call centers….
    The point of driving the Jag is not to DRIVE to the VIP reception at the Metro Gallery of Art, the point is to announce to the world that you, Jordan McClary, have ARRIVED…wherever you are going… in a Jag, not a Mustang…. superfulous as that may seem it is what high fashion objects are about.
    In What they Don’t Teach You at the Harvard Business School, Mark McCormack relates this incident. He is having lunch with the CEO for Rolex Europe. Another fellow comes over to the table and asks, how is the watch business? The CEO replies, “I have no idea how the watch business is…..” the implication of course is that Rolex is not in the WATCH business, A Timex will tell the time, Rolex is in the I HAVE ARRIVED BUSINESS. Note that I am not a spokesperson for Rolex, but Jack Niclaus and famous race car drivers are… own a Rolex and be like Jack, similarly Tiger Woods represents Tag Heuer, John Travolta represents Brietling, Nick Cage represents Omega, and so on.
    Actually a corvetter at 50K is dirt cheap compared to its competition at Porsche etc, similar European performance is at least twice the price, not to mention the upkeep. And of course you are right, no one drives the cars that fast anyway, ah the price of making a statement about yourself……

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  3. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Luxury = Complexity
    These days most of us expect applicances, cars, coffee grinders, whatever to work. Yet it was not long ago that a finicky difficult to maintain object was associated with luxury. The valves on my Ferrari have to be adjusted, my hair style take three hours when Rene does it dariling he is such a stickler for detail
    Indeed such snobbery and waste lives on in the current craze for mechanical drive watches. The Japanese bought the electronic circuit watch from the Swiss and darned near put them out of business. Now that the Dow is at 12,500, the WSJ is chock full of you guess it, mechanical watch ads. Note that most of them brag about how long they have been in business, some back to the 1700s. they are an antique, one brags that you don’t own their watch, you merely safekeep it for your next generation. Having such a watch cleaned once a year I am sure is a $250-1,000 repair bill, but such is the price of luxury don’t you see. One does not need a jeweler with a Timex, they sell those at Wal Mart don’t you see. And who would arrive in their Jag dressed in an Armani suit with hair by Rene, and not wear a Rolex, Omega or another fancy brand that I can’t spell much less pronounce…..

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  4. Jordan McClary Avatar
    Jordan McClary

    ha ha ha ha….. very good point….I think I will be sure to keep saving for my rolex and hopefully one day I will not be worrying about renee doing my hair.

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