Michael Quinn, grandson of Jaguar founder Sir William Lyons, attended the ceremonial handover of the new Jaguar F-TYPE to the Jaguar UK dealer network at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
Michael Quinn is a director at RA Creamer Jaguar in Kensington, London, and was amongst the 60 dealers who collected the keys to their Jaguar F-TYPE demonstrators which take price of place in dealerships today.
The assembly red, grey and black Jaguar F-TYPEs formed the letter F before departing on a 1.5-mile procession from the Ricoh Arena into Coventry City Centre, led by the last ever Jaguar E-type.
Robin Sturgess, whose son Chris is dealer principal at Sturgess Jaguar in Leicester and who attended a similar handover event in Coventry in 1961, travelled in the Jaguar E-type that led the convoy, worth £4.7m, into Coventry.
Ken Forbes, Marketing Director at Jaguar Cars UK, said this was the company’s most important launch since the E-type.
“The F-TYPE is hugely important for us because it takes us back to our spiritual homeland,” he said. “Our car DNA is about innovation, seduction and performance and those are all shown in the F-TYPE.
“We have ambitious targets, the market is eager to see the F-TYPE on the road and we expect this launch to be important to the Jaguar brand. Last year we recruited 1,100 staff at Castle Bromwich and 350 of those have been dedicated to production of the F-TYPE. This launch will have a positive impact on the local community and our suppliers throughout the Midlands.”
Liz Cooper, Marketing Director of the Ricoh Arena, commented: “It was a magnificent sight to see these sleek sports cars lined-up in the shape of an ‘F’ in the Ricoh Arena car park before they started the procession.
“Other motorists on the A444 and the ring road were able to see the F-TYPE at close quarters which caused quite a stir since it is the most eagerly-anticipated car of the year. The procession finished at junction nine on the ring road before the dealers left their formation to head home.”
Jaguar dealers travelled a total of 7,141 miles back to their bases across the UK in their Jaguar F-TYPE sports cars. The closest dealer was Guy Salmon in Coventry who only had 3.5 miles to travel while the dealer from Peter Vardy Aberdeen had the furthest journey, a 440 mile drive back to Scotland.