WE LOVE L.A.

Maybe it’s the sunshine, or the fact that the vehicles all appear to be so spotlessly‑clean? Perhaps it's that every luxury car looks great with palm trees and a Pacific Ocean backdrop? Whichever, I still am taken with our vehicles' road presence when I see them cruising down Rodeo Drive, gliding effortlessly through Beverly Hills, or quickly cutting through traffic on the PCH in Malibu.

It certainly feels a very long way from Coventry.

The Los Angeles market is massively important to Jaguar and Land Rover. We have our top‑selling Jaguar retailer in the world, Galpin Jaguar, in L.A., and as you’d expect, L.A. is the largest U.S. market for Jaguar and second largest for Land Rover after New York City.

It’s the reason we place so much importance on the Los Angeles Auto Show and this year had such a major presence during last week’s two press days.

We kicked things off with a stylish pre‑show VIP event right off of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. It was a great evening with literally hundreds of customers, dealers, entertainment industry VIPs, and global media who came together to celebrate Jaguar and Land Rover's newest designs. Special guests included Jay Leno who stopped by to see the Jaguar C‑X16 concept and Ben McKenzie who plays a police officer in the TV show Southland, and who will soon be seen driving a Range Rover Evoque on air.

A highlight of the evening was the global debut of our 550‑horsepower 2012 Jaguar XKR‑S Convertible, complete with a celebrity appearance by Hollywood actress Mila Kunis.

If ever there was a car designed for L.A., it’s the XKR‑S Convertible. It's beautiful to look at, massively powerful and very exclusive.

 

Our press conference during the media day was a standing room only affair as media listened to top global management including Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover CEO; Adrian Hallmark, Jaguar Global Brand Director; and John Edwards, Land Rover Global Brand Director.

Our newest concept vehicles, the C‑X16, the DC100 and DC100 Sport, created a lot of positive media attention and were featured prominently on local L.A. and national television news programs. All three are bold statements of Jaguar and Land Rover’s future design and technological intent and bode well for our future. Congratulations go to lead designers Gerry McGovern and Ian Callum, and their teams, for creating such compelling products.

 

In all my too‑many‑to‑count years in the car business, I don’t think I’ve ever seen concepts receive so much enthusiastic and genuine praise, and so many calls to “build it!” We are listening and we know, if we do bring them to market, they are certainly going to look great in this influential market.