JCNA Members' New Jaguars

Let me play devil's advocate. You can check our website (www.jcca.us) and click on the group of people on the right. That will take you to our membership roster. As you will notice we have a good mix of cars.

I organized a drive to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. There's a link to that from our home page, too. We had two E-types, an XJ6, and XJ40, and a newer XJS. The last day drive we put together we had 5 E-types and an XK120.

Perhaps we are atypical, but IMHO the owners of the newer cars look at them more as transportation as opposed to part of a legacy. They drive them every day, so what's special about taking a trip in them?

Not only that, I wonder how many younger people in the club, people who didn't grow up with XKs and E-types, consider Jaguar a sporting marque. If you were ten when the last E-type rolled off the line, you'd be 37 now.

I think that's one major reason so many of us were upset when the F-type was killed. None of us have this perception, but I fear in the broader North American consciousness, Jaguar is the Buick of the European manufacturers. Both my sons drive XJ6es, reluctantly, because the price is right. They are classy cruisers; there is nothing sporty about them. Given a few dollars, they'd be in an Accord, Civic, or some other Rice Rocket with a large exhaust pipe. Given a few more dollars, they'd be in a Beemer or an Audi TT. I'd be interested to see the demographics of the X-type sales, but I have a feeling it's the late 30-somethings and 4-somethings who are buying the car. I don't see the Gen Xers showing the least bit of interest.

I believe dumping millions into F1 while killing the F-type will go down as one of Ford/PAG/Jaguar's biggest blunders.

Mark

: There are a lot of owners of new cars out there who would like to be in

: an enthusiasts group. They won't join if we come off as an old car

: club with guys in white shoes and plaid pants standing around. No

: offence to anyone wearing plaid pants, I'm sure they look good on

: you. We have to take a lesson from Jaguar marketing and get hip.

: London calling...

: John Testrake

: pres. JAGSL

I've never crunched the numbers but we have a very large number of owners of newer cars in the St Louis club. Ceertainly, one factor is the long standing relationship between us and the local main line dealer. They support our concours and host meetings and tech sessions occasionally to show off a new car. It takes work to keep the channels open and maintain the friendships, but it's worth it. I'm not sure they get a sizable return on their investment in us in dollars, but some things are intangeable and can't be counted on the ledger.

We also have quite a few owners of vintage and even classic Jaguars on the roster. And we have members with both old and new cars. Owners of new cars like tours and rallies. Owners of expensively restored cars don't usually like to get them out and flog them about. I'm just lucky if I can get one of mine started! Guys like me like hands on tech sessions. Catering and tailering the club to all is one of our greatest challenges. But we must. Consider this: More Jaguars will be sold this year than were made during the entire production run of series 3 XJ saloons.

There are a lot of owners of new cars out there who would like to be in an enthusiasts group. They won't join if we come off as an old car club with guys in white shoes and plaid pants standing around. No offence to anyone wearing plaid pants, I'm sure they look good on you. We have to take a lesson from Jaguar marketing and get hip. London calling...

John Testrake

pres. JAGSL

This question is much more complex than it appears at first. I think the answer really depends on the club in question, those people who run it and what events/services they offer to the members.

Our local club here can only boast about 10% of the members who own Jaguars manufactured in 1990 or later. Of those, all of them own another (classic) Jaguar. I think we are skewed as far as statistics go for several reasons: 1. the core of the club is a group of "white hairs" who own E-types 2. we don't really offer events or services that would interest people with newer cars. 3. our winters are so brutal up here that most people drive a "beater" in the winter and the Jag only in the summer (which tends to make them favor toys).

Our sister club had a similar makeup up until about ten years ago, when the "white hairs" with E-types and XK's got tired and drifted away. That club is now heavily populated with XJ6's and XJ-S' from the 1980's. Surprisingly, they can only boast a handful (less than 5%) of newer Jaguars amongst the membership.

Addendum: I think most owners of E-types or XK's and the like have already given JCNA or their local club a try. While there will always be new people buying E-types I think they will represent a smaller and smaller population. We are unlikely to grow JCNA as a whole or the individual clubs by waiting around for someone new to buy an E-type. As individual clubs and a national organization, I think we have to find ways to involve the newer, younger Jaguar owner with the X-type or S-type or face a decline in enthusiasm and, inevitably, membership. It would also be a great help if Jaguar would manufacture a sports car again!!!

Daniel

: In the latest Jaguar's Roar from the Nations Capital JOC, editor Jerry

: Motta listed late-model Jaguars owned by club members. The percentage

: was quite high - more than enough to counter the old adage that

: "Car Club Members don't buy new cars"

: Does any other club/editor/individual out there have similar statiistics

: for their club? I am very interested in collecting these to do an

: editorial in Jaguar Journal.

: You know where to find me!

: Mike Cook

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I can say that at the San Antonio Concours this past weekend there were no XKs, One older saloon, one 60's S type, 5 -6 E-types. The rest were "modern" cars; XJS, XJ-40 and newer.

It might be interesting to compare the evolution of the mix of entries today with, say, ten years ago.

Regards, John

We have quite a few in our club ( SFJC ) as well.

Recently, in a longish response to another thread, I think I mentioned that there is a significant number of new Jaguar owners joining clubs thru the web site. by new I mean 97 and up, but X and S and a significant number too. I'd have to find the post, but I believe it was close to 50% which is very significant.

There is also a significant number of classic jaguar owners who have now bought X types as they are far more affordable than the traditional XJ

Pascal

: In the latest Jaguar's Roar from the Nations Capital JOC, editor Jerry

: Motta listed late-model Jaguars owned by club members. The percentage

: was quite high - more than enough to counter the old adage that

: "Car Club Members don't buy new cars"

: Does any other club/editor/individual out there have similar statiistics

: for their club? I am very interested in collecting these to do an

: editorial in Jaguar Journal.

: You know where to find me!

: Mike Cook