A visit to Jaguar's R&D center provides insights into the development of a new electric prototype. Jonny Smith shares his excitement about riding in the camouflaged vehicle, revealing details about its design and engineering. The conversation touches on the company's heritage, the importance of comfort over sportiness, and the challenges of marketing a luxury electric car. Notably, the prototype aims for a blend of modern performance and classic Jaguar traits, with a focus on a relaxing driving experience. The episode also includes a brief interview with Jaguar's managing director about the brand's future.
Richard received an unexpected invitation to do something very exciting. Also in this episode, an embarrassing mistake with placeholder text, forgetting that you owned a Citroen CX, the worst sound in motoring, and another chat about a pair of cars coming up in the PistonHeads auctions.
"[169.7s] we were talking about the departure of Jerry McGovern from Jaguar Land Rover."
Jaguar Land Rover makes fancy cars and big trucks. It’s a company that owns two famous brands: Jaguar, which makes sporty luxury cars, and Land Rover, which makes big off‑road vehicles.
Jaguar Land Rover is a British automotive company that owns the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, known for luxury cars and SUVs.
"I discovered something last Monday when I went to their headquarters that they, this was from the chief engineer of the whole project. And he said, oh yeah, some guys here told me that you'd done that and we were all laughing because pretty much that day or around that day that you would have recorded that, we were shooting our official spy photos of that prototype."
A prototype is like a test version of a car that engineers build to see if the design works before making many copies.
A prototype is an early sample or model built to test a concept, design, or new feature before mass production.
"And it was an XJC from the 70s. An XJC? OK. ... because I've driven an XJC."
The XJC is a fancy car from Jaguar that looks like a big, comfy sedan but can open its roof. It was made in the 1970s and is famous for its smooth ride and powerful engine.
The XJC is the Jaguar XJ Convertible, a luxury four-door coupe that was produced in the 1970s. It is known for its elegant styling and powerful V8 engines, making it a classic example of Jaguar’s design philosophy.
"I’d expected it to be really floppy because it's got no B pillar and yeah, all that."
The B pillar is the part of a car’s side that sits between the front and back doors. It helps keep the body strong and protects passengers if a side crash happens.
The B pillar is the vertical support structure between the front and rear doors of a car, providing structural rigidity and safety in side impacts.
"[836.8s] that's been going on for the past year or so and the reveal of a pink concept car"
A concept car is like a test version of a new car that shows off cool designs or features. It’s usually shown at auto shows to see if people like it before making a real car for sale.
A concept car is a prototype vehicle created to showcase new styling, technology, or ideas. Manufacturers often display them at auto shows to gauge public reaction before deciding whether to produce a production model.
"So they then can create a virtual diff. So apparently, if you really want to, you can do sort of slidey, slidey and all sorts of stuff..."
Think of it as a computer that tells each wheel how much power to get, so the car can turn smoothly even though there’s no real gear that splits power between wheels. It helps make the car feel more stable and responsive.
A virtual differential is a software-controlled system that mimics the behavior of a mechanical differential, allowing power to be distributed between wheels without a physical gear set. It uses electronic controls and motor torque modulation to achieve smooth power delivery and improved traction.
"Because 20 years ago that was a Veyron and that seemed extraordinary."
The Bugatti Veyron is a very fast, expensive car that can do more than 1,000 horsepower. It was famous for being one of the fastest cars ever made.
The Bugatti Veyron is a hyper‑sized, high‑performance sports car produced from 2005 to 2015. It was the first production vehicle to exceed 1,000 horsepower and set multiple speed records.
"the enthusiasm for really high end EVs is tailing off"
High‑end EVs are fancy electric cars that can go fast and don’t use gasoline. People buy them for their tech features and because they’re good for the environment.
High‑end electric vehicles (EVs) refer to luxury or performance cars powered solely by electricity, such as the Tesla Model S Plaid or Porsche Taycan. They are often marketed for their advanced technology and zero‑emission driving.
"I did ask at one point if perhaps the Renault 5 had given them some cause for comfort, because to me, that seems to be the first electric car"
The Renault 5 is a small, inexpensive car that was very common in Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. It’s a simple, practical vehicle that many people still remember fondly.
The Renault 5 is a compact hatchback produced by the French automaker Renault from 1972 to 1986. It was known for its simple, boxy design and affordability, making it popular across Europe.
"It is like the throttle calibration is one of the things they're working really hard on so that it's and this to me immediately reminded me of my old XJR, he said, the whole philosophy is the powers there when you need it, but it's not there in your face."
Throttle calibration means tuning how the car’s gas pedal feels and reacts. It makes sure you get a smooth, predictable acceleration instead of a sudden surge when you press the pedal.
Throttle calibration is the process of adjusting how a vehicle’s throttle responds to driver input, ensuring smooth acceleration and preventing sudden jumps in power. It balances performance with drivability, especially important in high‑performance cars.
"And then medium, let's say there's three trim levels, because that's typically the case."
Trim level is like a version of the car that has different features. One might have more tech or nicer seats, while another is simpler and cheaper.
A trim level refers to a specific configuration of a car that includes certain features, options, and styling elements. Manufacturers offer multiple trim levels to cater to different budgets and preferences.
"[1380.8s] Now, Andy is the guy he's like, he was responsible for the Discovery 3 was his.
[1385.0s] Yeah, Andy's lovely.
[1386.4s] He's a lovely man.
[1388.0s] And I've talked to him about actual Discovery 3s."
The Discovery 3 is a big SUV from Land Rover that was made in the mid‑2000s. It’s known for being good on rough roads and having a comfortable cabin.
The Land Rover Discovery 3, also known as the Discovery Series III, is a mid‑size luxury SUV produced from 2004 to 2010. It built on the Discovery’s off‑road heritage with a more refined interior and improved ride quality.
"So it looks huge like an XJS or something. ... the panel, the depiler, basically looks quite XJS ish."
The Jaguar XJS is a classic British luxury car from the 1970s and 80s. It had a big V12 engine and was popular for long, comfortable drives.
The Jaguar XJS is a mid‑size luxury grand tourer produced by the British automaker Jaguar from 1975 to 1986. It featured a V12 engine and was known for its elegant styling and smooth ride.
"there were two issues with that car, particularly one related to the back window and one to do with how you sit in it."
The back window is the glass at the back of a car that lets you see out and sometimes open to let air in.
The back window, also known as the rear windshield, is a glass panel located at the rear of a vehicle. It provides visibility for the driver and passengers, and in some cars it can be opened or tilted.
"[2023.8s] is this is when RS Audis were quite restrained.
[2035.4s] I've really gone off RS Audis now."
Audi RS cars are special versions of Audi models that have stronger engines and better handling for racing or sporty driving. They’re more powerful than the regular Audi models.
Audi RS refers to the high‑performance variants of Audi’s lineup, such as the A4 RS or A6 RS. These cars combine a powerful engine with sport‑tuned suspension and aerodynamics for track‑ready performance.
"but this particular one has had a professional, I would put that in italics, stage one remap, and it's got a mil-tech cat-back exhaust"
A stage one remap is a software tweak that makes the car’s engine run faster and stronger, usually by changing how the computer controls fuel and air.
A stage one remap is an engine tuning process that adjusts the ECU settings to increase power and torque without major mechanical changes.
"Yes, there's an invoice in June 2013 from MRC Tuning"
MRC Tuning is a shop that makes and installs performance parts for cars, like better engines or suspensions. They’re known for helping drivers get more power and handling.
MRC Tuning is a specialty aftermarket company that provides performance parts and services such as engine tuning, suspension upgrades, and custom modifications.
When a car starts on a cold day, it runs at a slightly higher speed in the engine’s idle to keep everything running smoothly until it warms up.
Cold idle refers to the engine running at a low RPM when it is cold, such as after starting on a chilly day. The engine’s idle speed is higher when warm to maintain smooth operation.
"Obviously a slipping clutch is an unpleasant thing."
When the clutch in a car doesn’t grip properly, it can make a squeaky or grinding sound and the engine power won’t get to the wheels. It’s like when a belt slips on a pulley.
A slipping clutch occurs when the clutch disc does not fully engage with the flywheel, causing loss of power transfer and a characteristic grinding or squealing noise.
"A mistimed gear shift and a grind from a gear, particularly at high revs, not nice."
If you shift gears too early or too late, the car can make a loud grinding sound because the gears aren’t meshing smoothly.
A mistimed gear shift happens when the driver changes gears at an inappropriate engine speed, leading to a harsh or grinding noise and potential drivetrain stress.
Electrical architecture is like the blueprint for all the wires and electronic parts in a car. It decides where everything goes so that the car’s electronics work together smoothly.
Electrical architecture refers to the overall design and layout of a vehicle's electrical systems, including wiring, power distribution, and electronic control units. It determines how components communicate and share power.
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I'm Jonny Smith.
I'm Richard Porter.
And this is Smith and Sniff, a podcast in which two friends talk about cars and many
other things.
Well, it's been a funny old week, hasn't it?
I'm going to apologize for this one because I've got a cold and feeling really sorry
for myself in that sort of slightly feeble, manish way.
Oh, are you?
Make a big deal out of it.
Yeah, yeah.
Are you a bit like the barn finder did day before yesterday where the car did run but
it just simply wouldn't idle?
You had to just keep causing it in order to make it function?
I think I'm a bit like I'm idling, but what I need is for someone just to blip the
throttle to just clear it out a little bit.
But is it bogging every time you press the throttle?
I'm bogging.
I'm bogging.
I need a good run just to, not literally, anyway.
So no, it's been a bit of a weird week because the last episode, the last main
show on Monday, we were talking about the departure of Jerry McGovern from Jaguar Land Rover.
Just before we recorded that on the previous Friday morning, I suddenly thought, oh, we're
going to talk about this and we're going to say, oh, it's all really mysterious because
they're not saying why he's gone.
I thought if they put out a press release that afternoon and our show goes live on
the Monday, we're going to look like a prize pair of long sleeves.
Yes.
So I sent a quick message to the big comms boss and went, are you going to put out a statement
anytime soon?
And he wrote back, no, nothing imminent.
And then he said, out of the blue, oh, hey, do you want to come up to Gaiden next week
to have a ride in the new Jag prototype?
You can come up on Monday if you want.
I love that.
And I went, so I then spent the whole week, I did a state of high excitement because
you know me.
I'm very boring and geeky.
And I love secret prototypes and test tracks and particularly because people remember
those.
It was like less than a year ago, I made that solo podcast where I was just driving around
the lanes of Warwickshire in a bright yellow car trying to hunt down prototypes of the
new Jag.
I discovered something last Monday when I went to their headquarters that they, this
was from the chief engineer of the whole project.
And he said, oh yeah, some guys here told me that you'd done that and we were all laughing
about it because pretty much that day or around that day that you would have recorded that,
we were shooting our official spy photos of that prototype.
And that was the first time that they had ventured out from the maximum security compound.
No.
If you'd hung around long enough, you might have seen it.
Oh my gosh, so you're, wow, okay.
It was like, it was, it was, we thought it was quite funny that you just missed your
chance.
It's making me think that because it's this time of year, Christmas-ish.
Yeah.
And all the completely bonkers, stupid perfume adverts are on the TV and on the internet.
I think Jag should release one called Secrets.
Secrets by Jag.
Don't you think it'd be really good and just have lots of people turning around
and looking into the camera going, Secrets, Secrets, Secrets.
But it's a perfume advert.
So at some point they'll have to be the Eiffel Tower in the back of shot for some reason or
other.
No.
No, it'd be part of Birmingham or Coventry.
Oh, it could be the, that rotunda thing in the middle of Birmingham.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Or Coventry Cathedral.
Yeah.
Of course.
I think that's a great idea.
That's some great brutalism in Coventry too.
Broadly keep it British.
It could be the Blackpool Tower.
Yes.
Like the Eiffel Tower, isn't it?
So, yeah.
Anyway.
So given my reasonably well documented obsession with prototypes of the new Jaguar, it was quite
weird to find myself at JLR's Gayden R&D centre being led out of a back door from their
main development building.
And there's one of these camo prototypes parked up there.
All right.
In you get.
There was a vehicle engineering director drove me round the test track.
That's so cool.
It's so cool.
It's so cool seeing those cars up close because they're sort of slightly scruffy because the
wrap, you know, it's not done for winning a concourse.
It's done for very functional reasons.
And he said to me, like he said, because it was one of the cars like the one I
saw a couple of weeks ago on the way back for the Derby live show.
It's got a little bit less camouflage on it.
There are fewer lumps and bumps under the wrap.
He pointed out to me, there's still some false bits and he pushed the nose of the car.
There's a sort of foam panel over the grill and he pushed it.
It's squishy and there's some weirdly, there's some sort of foam runs up the A-pillars still.
Is this to just put people off the shape?
Just to slightly hide what's going on still.
And he said, the engineers, we hate it.
We always want to take the camo off as much as possible and marketing wants to put
on as much as possible.
So it's an ongoing battle because he said it creates wind noise.
Yeah, it creates false reeds when you're trying to dial a car in, you know,
make sure the car is as refined as possible.
And it's sort of got whistles and things.
It's it's it's distracting and annoying.
But yeah, it's sort of a necessity.
Marketing wants to make the biggest splash.
One thing, there's loads of stuff.
I promise I won't go on about this forever.
But but it's been noticed in ever since those cars were first out on the road
and they got papped that on the nose, they have this weird word, lorrips.
What? And no one could work out.
Why does it say lorrips on the nose, like where the badge should be?
Well, I found out because the car we rode in had this on it.
So it's one of the first things I went, I'm sorry, can I ask,
why does it say lorrips on the front?
That's it's weird.
And it's not like is it the font?
Don't tell me it's the name of the font.
It's not. But it is as kind of so basically the finished car
like the concept car will have Jaguar written on the nose.
OK, so no no growler, no growler.
But where that sits in a rectangle,
the rectangle is also contained sensors for various ADAS type systems.
To calibrate and make sure those sensors
in as realistic an environment as possible, the rectangle has to have
lettering on it as it will in production.
But they don't want to write Jaguar because that would give away what it is,
even though people kind of know if they're nerdish.
So they contracted, you know, lorrim ipsum, the the Latin
that you use just to fill space on a page in publishing
before you've got the actual words of an article. Yes.
Lorrips is just a contraction of lorrim ipsum.
And they just decide to put that in there because lorrim ipsum
is the placeholder text.
So this is the placeholder text for the word Jaguar,
so that the sensors don't get befuddled by lettering in production.
Lorrim ipsum will fare the haunt me because I I didn't proofread
a magazine well enough when my first journal shop.
And I let an entire I let an entire page go to print with basically
lorrim ipsum. Seriously. Yes.
Seriously.
I was I was 19 and I was a dick.
Oh, did did people write in thinking it was some kind of puzzle
or did they spot it straight away as just a big fuck up?
They spotted it straight away and I had to write in, you know,
the next month, very sorry for that oversight.
This is what the page was supposed to look like.
It was bad, but I never did it again.
You learn from these mistakes.
So think about mistakes is that apparently we learn from them.
Yes. So anyway, yeah, I went for a little ride around
with with Matt Becker in this car, which is very exciting.
Also, it got loads of like fabric sheets over the dashboard.
So you can see that when we've pulled up,
it's got electric door releases like a lot of modern cars.
It's just a button, but the button was covered with fabric.
And I thought I'm not supposed to lift any of this fabric
because it'll show what things look like underneath.
So I just sort of sat there like pouring at the door until Matt Becker
just went, there's a button under there. You're all right.
You can you can lift that thing and press it.
So I look like a trapped cat for a while.
But in between those, that embarrassment and the getting in,
we went for a run around the high speed track at Gayden
and then they've got these sort of other tracks that are more like normal roads
and some of them have deliberately bad surfaces.
As we set off, we were going down an access road.
Now, I can't say this for sure, but I have a feeling
that he deliberately aimed the car at some slightly raised manhole covers
just to subtly set the tone.
And the tone was this car's going to ride really well
because one of the first things he told me genuinely made me really delighted.
They borrowed a load of cars from Jags Heritage Collection
just to sort of try and get a sense of like, what's a Jags supposed to be like?
Historically, what defines a Jaguar?
So they drove all these cars around and they identified one car
that they felt embodied everything a Jaguar should be.
And it was an XJC from the 70s.
An XJC? OK.
Wasn't expecting you to say that.
No, I'd have thought something maybe a bit newer or maybe a bit older.
They'd have gone, really, the spirit of Jaguar is in an E type or a Mark 2.
No, 70s XJC and that made me so happy
because I've driven an XJC.
Actually, it was James May's XJC just to make it name dropy.
I didn't know James May had an XJC.
He did a long time ago, a really nice sort of light lavender purple coloured one.
Oh, very good.
Very 70s colour and I remember that car and driving it when James had it
because I was really taken aback at how together and how sort of modern it felt.
I'd expected it to be really floppy because it's got no B pillar and yeah, all that.
Yeah, actually, it was really up together, really tight.
The only thing that dated it was that really vague, light steering that Jags had around then.
Yeah, but the actual chassis and the body control of things felt really good.
So it's fascinating to me that they've alighted on that.
That is now their North Star for the new car, which I find extremely interesting
because, and Matt Becker actually said this, Jaguars had moved towards
trying to be really agile and sporty.
Yeah, they did.
They want to move the needle back towards comfort and cruising and long distance relaxation.
And if that means you move away from a bit of agility without going totally sort of like, you know, 70s Cadillac.
Then they want the compromise to be more.
So basically they want the compromise to my ears.
What he's saying is they want the compromise to be more like Jaguars used to be.
And if the XJC is a benchmark, then that just underlines it.
It sounds to me like they're almost.
And with the look of this new Jag model, if it looks similar to concept,
it looks like they're gunning more for Rolls Royce to me than the Jag of Alder.
They're almost punching higher.
They won't confirm price, but it's definitely going to be a hundred and something thousand.
So it's not going to be cheap.
It's going to be what I presumed it's going to be full Range Rover pricing.
The Range Rover starts over a hundred grand now, doesn't it?
So, yes, it's definitely in that area.
That to me is the one bit where I go, oh, well, best of luck with that, you know,
are people going to pay that money for a Jag?
I don't know.
But for everybody getting all tied in knots because of the marketing campaign
that's been going on for the past year or so and the reveal of a pink concept car
initially and everyone getting wound up and it's not a Jag.
Is it? I just thought, well, it is.
This sounds exactly like a Jag to me.
As a former Jaguar owner, this sounds extremely Jag.
You know, you sit in the passenger seat of a car.
You can't tell a huge amount about how it drives.
But I can tell you it rides really nicely.
We were going so quickly that I thought that the digital speedo
in this left hand drive prototype was in kilometres and then realised it wasn't.
Oh, really?
They haven't talked a lot about the technical stuff, but they did say it's got three motors.
So it's all electric.
It's got an electric motor on the front axle and it's got two on the rear axle.
So they then can create a virtual diff.
So apparently, if you really want to, you can do sort of slidey,
slidey and all sorts of stuff, but it's not where they're heading with it.
No, they wanted to be more laid back.
It's easy listening. That's what it is.
But it's like full orchestra, easy listening.
Yeah, I would say.
And it's going to be around a thousand horsepower, which is nuts.
Because 20 years ago that was a Veyron and that seemed extraordinary.
I'm really excited by this, although my worry is that
the enthusiasm for really high end EVs is tailing off
because people all bought them through their business as a tax break,
like tokens and then went, oh, I can't be bothered to change my behaviour
because I just like putting petrol in a car and then they go,
so that's this is rubbish.
I don't like it.
And then suddenly they walk away and they never come back to EVs.
But part of my issue with that is because they didn't really want to buy EVs.
They wanted to buy a premium car through a business as a tax writer.
Yeah, not really.
I want to actively drive an electric car.
I get the vibe from talking to the people there that they want this
to appeal to people as a car that happens to be electric.
OK, well, that's good.
I did ask at one point if perhaps the Renault 5 had given them some cause
for comfort, because to me, that seems to be the first electric car
that has genuinely converted people have just gone, I like the look of it so much.
I don't give a shit what it runs on.
I just want one. Yes.
And they sort of went, yeah, that's that's kind of what we would like.
So they wanted to be led by the design.
Yeah. So in terms of technicals, it doesn't really say an awful lot,
but it's got a thousand horsepower thereabouts.
But Matt Becker said explicitly, we do not want this car to snap your neck
as a lot of really high performance EVs can do.
It is like the throttle calibration is one of the things they're working
really hard on so that it's and this to me immediately reminded me of my old
XJR, he said, the whole the whole philosophy is the powers there
when you need it, but it's not there in your face. Yes.
You know, if you think of one extreme you've got, I don't know,
like a GT3 RS or something like that,
but you're constantly aware of what the car can do
because it's noisy, it's aggressive, it's a tightly wound.
This is more like my old XJR car, remember, ever using full throttle in that car.
But I always knew that I had a bit of thump to draw
and if you really needed it, you really, really did.
That's basically how I drive my Tesla.
Yeah.
Because I did only did I did launch control
or insane mode for the very first time week before last.
Oh, did you? Yeah, I haven't done it yet
because I just thought I don't want the back axle to shit itself.
And then I go, I've just ruined my five grand Tesla
by just trying to impress somebody showing off.
Yeah, I just had this image of just it separating itself
and then me having to just go and buy another car.
So, yeah, I had the oil changed on the motors and things for
and that's I've done a video, well, a video we're going out on it.
But I thought now I've had it checked
and I've had the motor oil checked and all that stuff
because people don't realize you should change the oil on motors for longevity.
I thought I'm now satisfied that I can give it a kick in the in the eggs.
So I did and you forget how damn fast it is.
But the irony is, is I'm driving around in a car
with potential to have seven hundred pounds feet plus torque.
And I just tickle it, I tickle it everywhere
because I just want maximum waft and maximum range, frankly.
But yes, you know, I mean, I mean, I was going to say,
so the whole purpose of this and the short notice kind of, hey, you come up here.
Turns out, actually, they were planning to do this.
Invite some people up to have a run in the prototype.
But with Jerry McGovern going and all these rumors swirling around the Internet.
Well, that's it. The Jagdproject doomed then, isn't it?
But you go up there and you go, oh, all right.
That that now looks like a really stupid thing to say
because there's hundreds of people working on this
and they're just sort of carrying on.
They've got like a hundred and fifty prototypes, apparently.
Or they've built a hundred and fifty prototypes.
Apparently, quite a few of them have already been crash tested and stuff.
So not all the shapes that they were, certainly.
Well, you said this in the previous week, didn't you?
About the fact that people who should know better
have forgotten how the industry works.
I did feel a bit smug because the morning that that podcast
with me saying that went live, I was driving up to go and see this Jagdproject.
Not knowing what the score was, but assuming that it was not going to be.
Now, we've invited you here to watch all of the prototypes being crushed
because it's it's over. And it's the opposite.
They're going, look, we're cracking on. Nothing's changed.
The interesting thing was, as soon as we got there,
they went, we will not be talking about Jerry McGovern.
Really?
If you ask a question about Jerry McGovern, it will not be answered.
Like it was so hardline as well, which is weird to me
that they still won't just go, look, he's left.
We wish him all the best. There's nothing.
So who knows what's going on there.
But the car will be revealed later in 2026.
And then you'll be able to have one on your drive in 2027.
So it's still quite a long lead on this stuff.
The car that I rode in was apparently verification prototype,
which sort of getting closer to exact production spec.
But there are still three build phases of prototype to go.
So this is, you know, it's quite a lot of work still.
Matt Becker said the car is sort of seventy to eighty percent
where it needs to be in terms of final finesse.
So they're still fiddling about.
It felt pretty good from the passenger seat.
But this is obviously now an emergency PR operation,
but they're going, look, because originally they were going,
people could come up here and run a prototype.
So we'd say, please don't talk about it till next year.
And now they've gone, talk about it now.
Yeah, feel free, mate. I've had it.
So they clearly need to get the message out there.
No, everything's fine. It's all right.
The Jaguar is still happening.
And just to seal the deal, they went, right,
come into the showroom for the design studio
and they pulled the sheet off the finished car,
or at least the full size model of it that's been signed off.
And it looks surprisingly like the concept car.
There was genuinely quite shocked at how close to the concept is.
I assumed everything would have to be watered down,
but it's really close, except it's got four doors.
And actually, I think a couple of the details are better than on the concept.
This pleases me.
It sits on twenty three inch wheels, just like the concept car.
That's what the production cars will have. Bloody hell.
OK, that's pretty unusual.
Yeah, it is. It's and it's so low.
They said if you put one of the wheels on top of another with the tires on,
that would exceed the height of the car of the roof.
Yeah, bloody hell.
I've had one idea for the Jag and this is trim level names.
Yes, I thought about it this morning.
What about if the entry level car is called Jag?
And then medium, let's say there's three trim levels,
because that's typically the case.
Medium trim level is Jag, so two ways.
And then top, top, top, top spec, all fully jingle.
It's Jag, so three ends.
Yeah, I think that could and it's very as you went.
It's going along the easy listing kind of route, very smooth.
Jag, nice and smooth.
I like it. Yeah.
What about they did say?
Because I went, did you have any debate about whether a thousand horsepower is,
you know, a lot to put in the hands of punters?
And they went, oh, you know, we debated whether it should be less,
we debated whether it should be more, bloody hell, really.
And so if they didn't more, you could have the Jags.
Oh, yeah, lots of S's or and then even more, the Jag.
Oh, yes.
But maybe they'll bring that in.
They'll wait for all three trim levels to be released.
He can have that for free.
So anyway, yeah, there we are.
That was that was an interesting Monday, but the car is going to look like the concept,
but it'll have four doors.
There's a few interesting details about it.
And there's some stuff they've done, which is sort of really pushing the limits
of what's possible with pressing metal and stuff to keep it looking
concept-y and dramatic and interesting.
And so they wouldn't let me record anything talking to the designers.
And actually, Andy Weill, who is the production design director,
I think is his side.
Now, Andy is the guy he's like, he was responsible for the Discovery 3 was his.
Yeah, Andy's lovely.
He's a lovely man.
And I've talked to him about actual Discovery 3s.
He is a proper car guy.
And first of all, the exceptional.
He's been there both times that we have with his beautiful Citroen CX.
So when I saw Andy, you know, clearly he's there to talk in a professional capacity.
But actually, he just wanted to ask me more about my Honda beat
and then tell me that his CX is going for a respray.
So you know that Andy's one of us.
And he is. He's good. He's a good egg.
He seems to be very proud of this car.
I was talking about CX as only yesterday.
I've got I keep coming back to CX's because I forgot that I owned one for a short time.
What? When?
Yeah, I owned a CX.
Yeah, about two thousand and three, four, about 20, 20 and a bit years ago.
Born off a work colleague who was a moody old trout and got it got it quite cheap.
It was an immaculate car that they had.
Unfortunately, someone had either the handbrake had failed a little bit
and it had rolled along and bumped into something.
It damaged the the boot lid and it creased it right up until the back window.
I don't know how is one of those creases where you wonder why it didn't crack
the back window or smashed the glass, but it didn't.
With those hydrodynamic citrons, if you didn't put the handbrake on properly,
I think when the suspension dropped, it would slacken the cable
and they would roll away. Is that not the case?
Well, I think that that could be.
Anyway, they were really upset about it because they'd bought
they found this low mileage and it was metal bumper car.
And the insurance had the insurance had said, well, you know,
borderline right off, we can't find those panels anymore.
And he was so annoyed about it because it because it was an original
paint lovely car that he took the insurance money, bought the car back off them
and then decided he was going to just he drove it around for a couple of months
and just couldn't bear it because it wasn't structurally damaged really.
And then just sold it to me one Friday afternoon.
So do you want to do on a deal on it? And I went, yeah.
Anyway, yeah, I drove it around for about a week.
Let Jason Barlow have a go in it.
Who is my boss on the editor of car magazine at the time?
And then I thought, do you know what? I'm underpaid.
I need to put this on eBay and make some cash.
And I put it on eBay and sold it for at least double what I'd paid for it.
And he saw the auction on eBay.
I won't go and sold it to you.
I won't give out his name.
And he was he's northern.
He was absolutely furious.
He saw he saw he saw what it had sold for.
And he came storming over to me that that week of my desk.
And he went, I think you owe me some money.
And I went, oh, I went, what do you mean?
He goes, you sold my car, but no, I've sold my car.
You sold me your car and I decided to sell it.
And he's like, but you sold it for way more than what I sold it to you.
And I went, I know I have Gary.
Oops, oops.
And and he said, well, that's not on.
I said, well, that's kind of the way it goes.
You're a grown up.
You offered me the car, an amount of money.
I bought it for the amount of money.
And then I decided to put some elbow grease into it and sell it on.
Fair enough. I think to this day, he hasn't forgiven me.
Probably not.
No, proper Northern gripes.
You can't beat a Northern gripe.
So just to very quickly wrap up this Jagd thing.
So yeah, it feels very nice, very comfortable, very relaxing.
It's it looks on brief acquaintance, pretty much like the concept.
Impressively so.
It will definitely cut a dash on the street.
It's also because it's long and low
and it sort of makes it look quite thin, even though it is wide.
It doesn't look it.
So it looks looks huge like an XJS or something.
You know, XJS is we're always like canal boats.
So it's a sort of long and thin.
It's it's got that vibe to it.
And actually the panel, the depiler, basically looks quite XJS ish.
I think it's a bit of pre-war Cruella de Vil type car about it.
It's definitely got Cruella de Vil vibes about it.
I think one in black would look would look really good.
I asked them, actually, I straight up just went,
are you going to sell it in the pink?
And they wouldn't tell me interest.
And there's a couple of other things that they're sort of like,
you know, I was moaning about that pole star four
and there were two issues with that car, particularly one
related to know back window and one to do with how you sit in it.
And they just I thought they felt sort of sloppy
and badly thought through the Jag has no back window,
but they have addressed these issues in an interesting way.
So I was quite that was quite heartening as well.
They wouldn't let me record in the room chatting to Andy Will
mostly because we were just talking about Honda beats and Citroen CXs anyway.
And they wouldn't let me record in the car with Matt Becker,
I guess, because they're talking a big game about refinement.
But obviously all the camo and shit on it made it a bit wind noisy.
So well, maybe they'll let us record in at some point in the future.
But I don't think there's I hope so.
In a moment. But I hope we can.
I know. I'm sure they'll forgive you.
But anyway, they did say you can have a chat
with Rodin Glover, the managing director of Jaguar, if you want.
So and you can record that.
So I did to stop this getting too car-y.
I will stick this at the end of this episode, a short chat with him,
where I just asked him what's going on with Jaguar
and how are they dealing with the reaction to the reveal
and all the hubris it's created over last year.
But if you if you're interested in that,
it will be at the end of this episode.
Although I have been quite confused by the number of messages
we've had from people going,
don't apologize for talking about cars.
Because usually when we do talk about cars, we get told off.
Yes.
And now we've apologised for talking about cars.
People have told us off for apologising.
So it's hard to know where we stand.
But anyway, to stop this getting too serious on main,
I'll put the Rodin Glover chat.
It's only short. I'll stick it at the end of the app.
Do you know what it's reminding me of now
is I'm hoping that there'll be a bit of future retro about it.
It like the Aston Martin Lagonda where that car is very
Thunderbirds in that it's from a it's from yesteryear.
But it's it's trying to predict what the the bold new future
era will look like.
And in a way that that's what makes it always intriguing.
I think I'd like that.
It's going to be a while till we'll see that car on the street.
But I think when we do, it's going to actually look completely bonkers
because it is so concept car-y.
Yeah, it's a statement.
There we go.
Jeremy Gov and Bugger's off.
But it's to my benefit because they have a PR panic and go,
shit, we better tell people Jags all OK.
And and there we are.
It seems like they are cracking up, so fair play to them.
Rich, the festive season is upon us and I've got some good news.
They found where the smell is coming from.
No, good news from Holy.
Oh, that explains the backing music.
Yes, Holy has released some amazing new flavours.
Oh, can you guess what they are?
Cheese.
No.
Hats.
Stop it.
The three special flavours are Winter Punch Ice Tea.
Holy Energy Baked Apple Ball.
And Speculu's Spiced Biscuit Milkshake.
What?
Sorry, I ran out of noises.
Which do you like the sound of most?
The noises?
No, the new flavours, Richard.
All of them.
But I also like the sound of our listeners
getting £5 off their first order if it's over £14.99
with code SSG5 or 10% off any order with code SSG.
£5 off their first order if it's over £14.99
with code SSG5 or 10% off any order with code SSG.
That's what I said.
£5 off their first order if it's over £14.99
with code SSG5 or 10% off any order with code SSG.
£5 off their first order if it's over £14.
I think we've done that enough now.
Thank you.
I want to talk about some auctions, Rich.
Oh, is that okay?
Auctions where, Johnny?
Well, there's a place, and you might be familiar with it.
It's called Piston Heads, okay?
One of my favorite places.
Yes, you do frequent it, as do I.
I do.
And if you go to pistonheads.com,
obviously you can go to Classifies,
which we all know and love.
They exist, but there's also auction land.
And the land of auctions.
I don't exactly know how you spell auctions.
They spell it A-U-C-T-I-O-N,
but you could spell it beginning with O
if you wanted, with a K maybe.
Yeah, I think so.
We're gonna dive in,
because this is the part of the show where,
well, because they proudly sponsor us,
we like hawking around and seeing what we might buy
if we were to be naughty boys
and buy another car that we don't need.
And share it with you, the listeners.
I've found a car which has a very special place in my heart.
So the auction finishes on Thursday,
this coming Thursday,
if you're listening to this on Sunday or Monday.
And it is a 2004, so now over 20 years old,
which is frightening, Audi RS6 Avant.
And this is the first generation of RS6.
I can't remember the moniker for them,
because I'm terrible with Audi monikers.
But all I know is that I think they launched this in 2002,
and obviously based upon the popularity
of the original RS2.
And I actually drove on, this is still to this day,
not the specific car that I'm about to talk about,
but this is still the fastest I've ever driven
on a public road.
And it was in Germany on an Autobahn,
for clarity, for clarity.
In one of these, we had it as part of the performance car
of the year test on car,
and it was the plus edition or the plus.
So it was the de-restricted what?
And I did over 180, driving it back to its home
off of Germany with a fuel card in my pocket.
And it was quite memorable.
But what I love about these is the shape,
is this is when RS Audis were quite restrained.
So they had muscle definition,
but it just wasn't so overt,
and I think quite grotesque, which is what they are now.
I've really gone off RS Audis now.
This is just such a sea of plastic at the front
and the back, we're all around the exhaust and stuff.
I just think it looks a bit tacky,
whereas then it looked quite classy.
So what are we dealing with?
79,000 miles, 4.2 under the bonnet,
because it's a twin turbo V8 that they came with standard,
but this particular one has had a professional,
I would put that in italics, stage one remap,
and it's got a mil-tech cat-back exhaust,
and it's got some lovely Bilstein dampings.
Dampings is also very comprehensive service history,
which is what you want with an RS model
because they can lead quite a hard life
and get punished and ignored.
So this car, yeah, they originally had 444 horsepower
and 413 pounds feet, very low down and hell of an engine.
This particular car is now 515 horse
and 662 pounds feet of torque, having had,
yeah, I think 2013, it had its remap done
and its replacement coil-overs.
Yes, there's an invoice in June 2013 from MRC Tuning
and main dealer service history up until I think 2013 or 2014
and then subsequent invoices
and work carried out by specialists.
So fast car, very, very fast car,
and this one is, is it black?
My color blindness is kicking in from the pictures.
I want to say it's black.
Oh, no, it's gray.
I think it's gray.
I mean, there's...
Yeah, I'd say it's that deep gray.
I don't know the name of it.
Is it deep gray?
It's too hot.
Color, but yeah, it's...
There's over 200 photos.
So you can look at the photos and tell me
that my eyes don't work if you wish.
But it's a, I just think it's a really classy,
beautiful car and over 20 years old and doesn't look it.
It just simply doesn't look it.
I salute you for your intelligent choice
of a usable modern classic.
Yes.
And as you say, a towering monument
to when high performance Audi's were discreet and tasteful.
They were.
I've gone in a slightly different direction as well.
I don't, what are you going to furnish me with?
Because it's well known that we enjoy
a stretched limousine on this podcast.
Indeed, we own one between us.
So I've gone for a 1990 Glenfruin Portway Range Rover.
Oh.
It's a Range Rover classic, of course, 1990.
And now as the advert here on piston heads notes,
those Range Rovers were originally
available with a 100 inch wheelbase.
And then laterally, there was the LSE model
which had a 108 inch wheelbase.
This is a little more than that.
This has a 136 inch wheelbase.
And has thoughtfully had an extra pair of doors
let into some of that stretch.
I love the term let.
How to say it?
Let.
Props for using the term let.
I could picture myself very easily getting permanently jammed
in some kind of cul-de-sac
with this beautiful example of the mark.
It's only done 27,978 miles
and it's majestic, is simply what it is.
I'm looking at the pictures now.
I can't believe that I didn't notice this
because it's unmissable.
It's a beauty.
Now, there are many things that sell it to me,
not at least the extra length.
Funny enough, one of the stranger modifications
is that it's had the usual Range Rover split tailgate
sort of welded together
and made into a more conventional hatchback.
I don't know why, but...
Rigidity?
I think it's to allow ingress, as people always say,
because if you look,
it's got some extra side-facing
or sort of side-on seats in the boot, one on each side.
I think it's to allow people to get in there.
The actual seating capacity of this car
is truly magnificent.
Gosh, this is so good.
Boomerang Aerial on the roof.
Well, I was about to say, this is what really sold this to me.
Not so much the stretch, but the fact
it has the classic Boomerang Aerial,
usually seen on the boot lid of a stretched Lincoln
or Cadillac out of America in the 80s,
but here on the roof of a classic Range Rover.
And I just think that's fantastic in and of itself.
It's preposterous, obviously, this car,
and that's what I like about it.
I'm going to say two things.
One of them, we're in the season now of game shooting.
Yes.
And I can see someone driving this as the crow would fly,
full of tweeted men, who are full of rich food and drink.
It's been liberally, it's been liberally
palmed across a wet field.
Yes.
I love the photography on it, it's amazing.
There's 192 pictures of this car.
And what I love is every single beautiful photo from,
it's set over what looks like a country estate,
a country manor.
Every single photo, if you scroll down,
shows the exhaust, heavy breathing.
Very, very heavy breathing.
You know it's on cold idle on a cold day.
I noticed that.
Yes, it's a cold day, isn't it?
And it's only just been started up.
It's great.
So by my maths, it's got two seats in the front,
it's normal, and then it has a three-person bench
behind that, but then it has another three-person bench
behind that, and there are two extra seats in the boot.
For the beast.
So it's a 10-seater.
Gosh, I'd like to drive this with you.
I always like to drive it.
It's, and of course, it's from 1990,
it's a Range Rover Classic.
It doesn't have anything as cowardly as four-wheel steering
to allow more maneuverability in tight spots.
It's all on you, you and the front wheels,
what you get up to, your business.
I would like you to be sitting,
we're gonna be hooking up, well, tonight
if you're listening to the podcast for our live one.
After we've done the podcast
and we're sitting by an open fire,
drinking maybe a couple of thumbs worth of vintage port,
I'd like you to be regaling the time
when I was driving my Glenfroom Portway.
You never use the term Range Rover,
you just say Glenfroom Portway.
No, it's not.
It's something much more, much, much more.
So there we go.
That's the auction for this one
ends on Sunday of this week, Sunday the 21st.
So get bidding if you want an exceedingly long old Range Rover.
And as ever you can debate which of us
has made the better choice
by going to pistonheads.com forward slash Smith and sniff.
Yeah, I fear that you've won this one, Richard.
Well, I mean, victory takes many forms, doesn't it?
It does.
It does.
Do you know what this one would be perfect for?
The British Bake Off,
where you get all the contestants
to and from the tent in the Immaculate Gardens.
We've talked about it before.
I think Paul Hollywood should pick this one up for a song.
And he should palm all the contestants
down to where they need to start baking.
Haven't we discussed before Hollywood
absolutely lighting up his Aston DBS
or whatever he's got on the lawn outside the Bake Off tent?
Oh, yeah.
So perhaps he could have the front drive shafts
disconnected in this Range Rover.
I think that's exactly it.
Yeah, he does a speedo indicated 160
past the white, past the white marquee,
but the car's only going about 12 miles an hour.
Just ploughy.
Lovely those old Range Rovers, don't they?
They really, they do.
They sound way more powerful
than what they really are.
It's one of those cars.
The Rover V8 is always like that.
It sounded like it was laden with brawn.
As a kid, I was like, oh my gosh, it's a Rover V8.
And then you realize it's about 10 more horsepower
than a well-sorted four-cylinder.
And you're like, oh, okay.
Okay, never mind.
Oh, that reminds me of one of the things
I was going to say to you,
awful sounds in the car world.
Obviously a slipping clutch is an unpleasant thing.
Like, you know, aggressively and badly slipped.
A mist-timed gear shift and a grind from a gear,
particularly at high revs, not nice.
But is there any less alluring sound in the car world
than a four-cylinder diesel being revved aggressively
from cold that stands still?
Oh gosh, onto the limiter.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Horrible noise.
The other morning, I was walking the dog
and I saw somebody getting into a Ford Galaxy.
Oh dear.
And then they just turned it on.
And I guess because they,
it must have been because they thought,
oh, I need to defrost the car.
I'll just get it warmed up nice and quickly.
They immediately matte pinned the throttle.
Did they?
And it was just there.
Ah.
That was their idea of awful noise.
I know, just went through me.
It's just like, it's a horrible sound anyway,
but then it's also the, what it's doing to that poor engine.
Yeah.
I was coming out of the gym the other day
and a couple of guys who had been trained before me,
they had a little chit chat and they were getting into the car
and he just talked about the fact he'd had his,
he had an operation on his leg
and he was struggling to get in and out of his car properly.
Anyway, cue him getting into this Audi.
I forget what it was, but it was diesel.
He got into it and his foot must have jammed
hard on to the throttle without him knowing.
He started it with his foot on the mat.
Oh.
And it was so awful.
I mean, I, I nearly dived for cover
because I thought components would start
grenade again at the engine.
It was, and then he wound the window down
and apologized for what he'd done.
Seriously.
Yeah, yeah.
Sorry about that.
I think he was with his son
and I think his son had probably winced as well.
He got, what the hell are you doing?
And he'd realized his sort of gammy foot
and got wedged in it and so he, I don't know.
Oh.
But it was, yeah, it was, it was bad.
But yeah, so have a look at those auctions
and also other auctions.
And if you want to browse the classifieds
while you're on the downstairs toilet,
not that I would.
And, and that's that on that side of things.
I do, I do, I do love those RS6 events.
Oh, the color is revealed in it.
We were, we were trying to work out what color it is.
It's, it is gray and damn it, I've just done that thing.
I think I've altered the scroll speed of my laptop
so I tend to scroll eight pages down
when I'm only looking for, for two pages.
But it's gray.
I just, I read it and then now I can't see it.
That's really a nice.
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Noying.
Good.
Well, we should sort of start steering this one towards...
Do you think?
The parking bay.
The colour is here.
Daytona grey, Daytona grey, Daytona grey.
Good.
We've cracked it.
What's a weird colour choice calling it Daytona grey
when Ford called yellow Daytona yellow?
What colour is Daytona?
Does anybody know?
Daytona's not grey.
Well, I suppose the track is, but anyway.
Yeah.
All right, well, let's sort of start winding this up.
But before we go,
three things to tell you.
The first one is, with the colder weather upon us,
Johnny is engaged in a new project
to force the former lead singer of Marillian
to wear a lightweight but warm quilted jacket
under the working title Pufferfish.
That's not to your taste.
Then there is, of course, the late break show.
Lots of excellent videos on there.
I can't believe I didn't see that.
I did not see that again.
And I've had Pufferfish,
and I still didn't see it.
What's going on?
I don't know.
So, the video that will have just gone out
as you listen to this freshly baked podcast
could be the most exciting,
I don't know, could be the most exciting barn find of the year.
It is a glorious
UK supplied.
Need to emphasize that for its rarity.
Nissan Skyline R33 GT-R V-Spec.
Oh, it's that.
It's been sat dormant for some time
and a bit of a sad story behind it.
But yeah, that's what it is.
And it's a cool, cool car.
And bizarrely, just days before that video goes out,
Blamin Haggerty released their bull market list
and it's on the bull market list of ones to watch.
The R33 has been living in the shadows for too long
and it's closer to the R34 than the R32
and a bit of a bargain amongst those two cars
which have soared in value.
So, we'll see.
But yeah, go and have a watch of that.
And if you don't want to watch that,
I can't remember how many barn finds I've done now,
but I think it's getting on knocking on the door for 200.
Yeah, I think so.
I really do.
Oh, treat yourself.
Yeah, I might do rich. Thanks for that.
Yeah, might.
A second thing I want to say is,
if you're listening to this podcast today,
it comes out Monday the 15th.
Then tonight, we are doing a live show
at the Tobacco Factory in Bristol.
I don't know if there's any tickets available,
but there might be.
Why not go to smithasniff.com for the link for live shows
and have a look if you fancy coming down short notice.
If it's in fact sold out.
It was sort of getting close last time I looked.
But anyway, we'll see some of you tonight in Bristol.
And the third thing I was going to say
is what I meant to mention the other week
when the playwright Tom Stoppard died,
legend out of playwriting and stuff.
Off of playwriting.
But what's less well known
is that he was responsible for the script
for Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.
Uncredited.
Really?
Well, I think because basically they had a script.
George Lucas had come up with a story
and then it had been turned
into a proper shooting script
by a different writer called Geoffrey Bohm.
And it sounds like it was a bit under par
and Steven Spielberg wasn't happy with it.
And so he gave it to Tom Stoppard
and Tom Stoppard wrote loads of new scenes,
rewrote all the dialogue.
It's uncredited, but I guess on the front page
it said that this extra script work was by Barry Watson,
but Barry Watson was really Tom Stoppard.
So there we go, that brilliant Indiana Jones film
was thanks to a legendary playwright.
Is he your favourite Indiana Jones film?
I think it is, yeah.
Gosh, is it? I need to watch it again.
I haven't seen it since The Millennium.
Temple of Doom was always my go-to.
I mean, those first three are all good, aren't they?
It's when Indy starts chanting
We just, me and my brother used to just chant it to one another
and chase one another up the stairs
and then probably fight one another.
It's weird what you remember in the 80s, isn't it?
But...
All right, well, on that thought-provoking note,
it's time to wrap this up.
Thank you ever so much for listening.
Hope to see some of you tonight in Bristol.
We'll be back on Friday with an Ottersot
next Monday with a regular show.
Until then, goodbye.
Thanks, everybody.
Guys, we've mucked at hats but still no ties
One day we will make those pies
But in the meantime, guys, hey, guys
Like and subscribe
And maybe leave a nice review
Like and subscribe
We know you know just what to do
Like and subscribe
We don't want to take the piss
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But we were told to ask for this
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We started off with a series of vehicle designs
that we thought actually captured the essence
of what a Jaguar should look like in the 21st century.
We then realised that actually didn't work on any of our platforms.
It didn't work on anybody else's platforms.
So we effectively devised our own
Jaguar electrical architecture.
Then it was handing it over to the engineers
to kind of say, right, okay, we now need to make this
it's got to meet all of the requirements
of a first century vehicle
but actually what one has to do
we've gone to the effort of building an architecture for this now
let's not lose the purity of the design
when actually we go to that next phase of development
and the ingenuity
the creativity of that, of those individuals
and the dedication, frankly, you know, I've been doing this job
for about three years
and I remember thinking, actually, I wonder how the engineers feel
and actually what a fan was a group of people
who were probably even more bought into
and evangelistic about, yeah, that's what we've got to do
and that's what they've been doing
and a lot of people have said to us
that concept car's great
but the production car won't look anything like that
Well, actually it will
but it only does so because of the people we've got here
that have spent that time and the effort
to retain that purity and it's not been easy
New platform, very expensive
seeing how hard have you had to fight to keep that
We made the decision for it to be a standalone architecture
and from that point onwards
it's then always a fine balance of making sure that
we need to sufficiently invest in that platform
and the brands to justify that
but we've got to be mindful of
this is a commercial entity
and actually walking that balance of
okay, wouldn't it be lovely to have all these other things
but okay, my job at the end of the day comes back
so we've got to make sure this is additive
to the enterprise that is Jaguar Land Rover
and that's not necessarily been the case in the past
and it's really important we do that
and part of that is understanding
what to invest in and what not to invest in
so I think we're managing that
that sort of duality quite well I think
It would be very easy for the business just to go
we turn a nice profit on Range Rovers
the Defenders doing very well
Why does the business need Jaguar at this point?
Many reasons
I think it's important
it's important to the DNA of this business
it's really important to our shareholder
the J&JLR in India takes on much greater
significance and proportion than it does
perhaps in many other parts of the world
I think it was probably one of the key reasons
as to buy the abortionists in the first place
the one thing I've learnt many things
but one thing I have learnt over the last 12 months
since we unveiled is just
the importance of people Jaguar all over the world
there's a really interesting kind of love affair
they have with the brand and the level of protectionism
but actually it's not about what Jaguar was doing today
it's about what Jaguar was doing
previously in its history and that's kind of
managing through that so it
I think it's important for all those reasons
I guess if I turn it around
in a different way so we'll
think about what's happening
some very impressive brands coming out of China
you know great tech moving at speed
what's the one thing that they don't have
that we have in Jaguar
and that is a storied history
provenance
you know whether that's racing or
iconic people that have been in our vehicles
that's the one thing they don't have
is there equity in there
is there value in the brand
I think when you look at it like that
you have a resounding yes which is
I think the decision that the company
and certainly the shareholders came to
when we embarked on this journey in 21
it feels to me like Jaguar is almost like
people's idea of what you do on Christmas day
everyone has very very passionate beliefs
about it but they're all there's no
right answer or wrong answer
what it did feel like though was that when the
initial concept announcement came with
all of the associated sort of materials
and imagery one of the things that seemed to
get people quite agitated was the sense
that all the heritage had been shuffled away
in retrospect is there anything you would do
differently about that announcement
well you know I can't go back
changing anything anyway so it's kind of
academic what I would say what have we learned
I think there was definitely a key
learning point in there the launch event
itself its job was to say Jaguar's changing
Jaguar's doing something different
and we wanted to get people's attention
you know marketing is about
singular messages for a period of time
and making sure that we thread them all together
and that's really loved it
one of the issues Jaguar has had recently
is to get back to this thing that
everyone seems to have an opinion about Jaguar
but not enough people actually bought
the cars who's going to buy
the new GT
so for us we're really clear on who we think
is going to buy the vehicle as you expect
whether something of this magnitude
we've got lots of insight
in terms of our client base whether that's in the UK
or the US, China, Europe etc
and yeah certainly
demographically we think it's going to be
probably slightly younger than our current audience base
we think they're likely to be a bit more urban
are definitely people who are open
to EV, they don't have to be
an EV owner
but similarly if you are a died in the world
kind of you know V8
V10 that's probably not going to be for you
that's okay because we're not looking
to sell this car in volume
to hundreds of thousands of people
attitudinally
is probably where it gets much more
interesting in terms of what are the mindsets
that actually knit all these people together
and what we are finding is those sort of
unifying mindsets of things like
these are people that want to make a choice
of brand that makes them stand out
people who have a real interest in design
they want something that
actually is not the same as everybody else
is parking on their drive because it makes a specific
statement about themselves
so actually that sort of sense of
they tend to be very independently minded
in that sense or I don't have to make
the logical kind of obvious choice
it's absolutely not that
and there's definitely a cohort of
people with that level of
with all financially and
interest in vehicles that we think actually
are going to appeal to this and certainly
as we've taken the concept vehicle
on you know through the likes of
Monaco and Munich and Goodward
and Monterey etc
we find that that narrative
definitely resonates
In terms of numbers are you saying how many
a year you'd like to do? No we're not on it
You do know
I mean I know, yeah obviously I know
I think it's not, I mean
probably not healthy because well I sell
whether I sell X number at Y
price or X number at Z price
is probably more important and I understand
how the P&L works and actually more importantly
for us you know certainly
as far as the first could be the most important thing
yes there's clearly a number we had
that actually we need to sell
but
the first vehicle has got to reposition
at that price point that's its job
so the four door GT
which we've been very clear that that's going to be the first
vehicle that we bring to market
that won't be the best selling
vehicle in the range
that vehicle's job is to
kind of say at the moment Jaguar transacts
at £55,000 this is going to
transact more than double that
and it needs to give us the entitlements
and it needs to kind of say actually yes Jaguar has got
the way we ought to
transact the client's
perception of willingness to play at that price point
so that's the job that that first vehicle does
things that come there
after we'll have different roles in terms of accessibility
volume all those sorts of things
but that's the job so the car you're driving today
that's what that car needs to do
and by the time that car is on people's
drivers the next
in the range
will be in progress so there's no sort of
way to see how that does
absolutely the next one is that we are already
along the way down the track
with the second vehicle and in fact pretty much
locked in terms of what it's going to look like
and how it will perform
in the next gestation period so
I wish it was
much more fluid and you could turn it on at
sixpence but yeah bringing cars to market
is not a desperately quick process
What is the tolerance threshold
at your owners
in terms of what is their definition of
success?
We've got financial targets
that we're shooting for
over the life cycle of the programme
and this is an important
point is you make an investment in
the architecture
and the industrialisation of it
and then effectively you've got eight years plus
to effectively pay back
that investment and make some money on top
so actually
at that point there's no fixed
point in terms of year one or two
but over that period of time
it's very clear
what we need to deliver
and it's clear the direction
to me and our commitments to the shareholder
is this will be additive to
our level in a way that it hasn't been
historically and we know
what we need to deliver and again go back to
your early question it's about when to
invest money in the brand and when you're not too
and I think we're managing that
very carefully
Do you think this is last roll of the dice for
Jaguar?
I've been here three years
I've had three CEOs
spent a fair bit of time with our PLC
nobody's ever said if this doesn't work it's gone
I think the team
is saying execute your plan
they have confidence in the plan
whether it's the main Tata board now
our new CEO Mr. Bellagy
Mr. Bellagy has been with this program
since its very inception
so he was the CFO of TML
and as part of that he actually is on our PLC board
so he's seen all of this
and actually been involved in that
so he's a real advocate
of what we do
and the focus is on making this work
not trying to figure out at what point
that's not the mindset
I'm very passionate about what we're doing here
because I know how many deeply
committed people there are
to reinventing Jaguar
and they're here because they believe in what they do
and they're just trying their very best
to secure Jaguar's next 90 years
so if you see it being used as a bit of a football
for whatever reason, political or otherwise
that's frustrating
but I guess it's part and parcel
of JLR is big news in UK
we're such an important part
of UK PLC
we're an important part of our culture
we're one of the biggest employers
it kind of comes with this territory
so it would be worse if nobody cared
Fred Meyer
fresh for everyone
dashing through the store
Dave's looking for a gift
one you can't ignore
but not the socks he picked
hey Dave here's a chip
put scratchers on your list
oh scratchers, good idea
we're glad we could assist
thanks random singing people
so be like Dave this holiday
and give the gift of play
scratchers from the california lottery
a little play can make your day
please play responsibly
must be 18 years or older to purchase player claim
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