2009, What a Year for Bergen Jaguar

Hard to believe the year is almost over. Going onto Bergen Jaguar’s 17th anniversary. First and foremost, Happy Holidays to all. What a year, I wasn’t sure we were going to be around when we started this year, but things have certainly changed. We just found out that Jaguar once again won the #1 ranking In the JD Powers customer satisfaction award. By the way that 5 times in the last 6 years, but who’s counting? Great press on Jaguar everywhere you looked this year. Whether it was the new 2010 XF with added features like our new 5.0L engine, or our 510 Horse Power available in our XK and XF versions. Imagine a car with 510 HP, 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and it does not even qualify for the gas-guzzler tax! New dramatic interiors in our portfolio editions as well as state of the art technology. And what a reaction to the 2011 XJ, words like modern, stunning, and of course gorgeous.

We also want to congratulate the folks of Bergen Jaguar and Madison Jaguar for making us the largest Jaguar dealer in the tri-state area, yep, we sell more new and pre-owned Jaguars than anyone else and have remained a leader in customer satisfaction. Wow, what a year. We had our grand opening in March at our Madison store, traveled to London for the launch of the 2011 Jaguar XJ, and just had parties at both Madison Jaguar and Bergen Jaguar premiering the new XJ. Jaguar Corporate got a new (actually an alumni) Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Richard Beattie, and we got a new sales manager at Bergen, Paul “the teacher” Sheridan. Mr. Rattan Tata came along with Ravi Kant and took 2 hours to discuss their plans as well as our preparations for the “new Jaguar”. What an honor. If you get a chance, Please take a look at our web sites: bergenjaguar.com and madisonjaguar.com for the latest in Jaguar news, whether real or maybe a little true. I want to thank our customers, vendors, Jaguar, and of course our staff for making a very difficult year survivable…I promise we’ll do our best to earn your trust and anticipate your needs.

Jaguar in the Press - New York Times and Racer Magazine

You know how Jaguar has come when the New York Times runs one of their “Behind the Wheel” departments and entitles it “From Stray Cats to Super Cats.” The author calls Jaguar “already among the sexiest cars” and writes about parking a 2010 XKR next to an Aston Martin DB9 and suggests that “even enthusiasts might struggle to tell the cars apart”. By the way, the Aston is $100,000 more and has 40 less horsepower. Unbelievable how far Jaguar has come!

Read the full article here.

How about a recent article in Racer Magazine entitled “Super-sedan showdown: Porsche Panamera 4S vs. Jaguar XFR.” Yep, in the same article, let alone in the very same sentence, you’ll find the words: “Porsche and Jaguar” together. The article ends with another feather in Jaguar’s cap. ”When it was time to crunch the numbers, the judges were unanimous. Every single one of us scored the Jaguar XFR above the Porsche Panamera, often by substantial margins.” As special correspondent Colin Goodwin put it, “it’s just got a sense of fun about it.” That, at the end of the day, is the reason Jaguar and Bergen Jaguar is cool…

Read the full article here.

My Trip to London for The Launch of the All-New XJ

This was some launch… Included
was Jay Leno, a posh gallery in central London and absolutely gorgeous weather.

Before I tell you what I thought of the all-new 2010 XJ I’ll quote what some of the other dealers and press said: “Absolutely Stunning, Jaguar is Jaguar Again, The Kitten is Smitten,” and finally the New York Times said: “Jaguar takes a bite out of the competition.”

All I can say is wow, the pictures and video's just don't do the all-new XJ justice. It's a cross between our Jaguar XF, a Bentley and a Riva speed boat. Some of the highlights of the new car include a panorama roof, a plasma screen instrument panel, a HD center consol screen, an all aluminum body (which is actually 50% recycled and at the end of it's life, 85% recyclable) and the lowest CO2 emissions in it's class.

Plus, the car just doesn’t look great, it also boasts some outstanding performance. 0-60 miles per hour is made in a mere 5.4 seconds for the normally aspirated engine and an incredible 4.7 seconds for the supercharged version… and with great gas mileage to boot! All in all, it’s a “nice sandwich.” It's just so nice to see Jaguar being Jaguar again, beautiful fast cars, always in style. Thanks guys for the opportunity to be involved in such a great company...

Madison Jaguar's Event

On March 25th we celebrated the opening of our newest store in Madison, New Jersey. Guest’s were welcomed by a Joan Rivers impersonator as well as a walk on the red carpet, search lights, and a wonderful selection of antique Jaguars provided by the local Jaguar Club. Food was provided by The Market Basket, futures told by our Palm reader, and a great band played as our guests looked over the newest and fastest Jaguars ever—the 2010 510 horsepower supercharged XFR and XKR. Many thanks to Jaguar Cars, Angelo Renzulli, Michele and Chris for all their help and support. We are looking forward to our next event with Neiman Marcus at the Garden State Plaza on May 1st and of course the launch of our 2010 XJ sometime during the summer, stay tuned, many exciting things are happening at Jaguar….

Jaguar Named Number One in Vehicle Dependability Study by JD Power & Associates

It’s truly exciting to be with Jaguar these days, not only have we won JD Power’s Dependability Study, but also JD Power’s 2008 Sales Satisfaction, as well as Business Week’s list of “Customer Service Champs” ranking Jaguar number three with an “A plus”, ahead of such customer service icons as The Ritz Carlton, Nordstrom’s and Lexus. Yep, even Lexus, wow. Even our parent company is an award winner. The Tata Group recently earned Fast Company Magazine’s “most innovative companies” status. Jaguar was among just a handful of automobile companies that actually had an increase of 8% over 2007. Stay tuned for more great news from Jaguar… or should I say, The New Jaguar…

My Trip to the UK to Test Drive the XFR & XKR and See the 351

Last week I had the pleasure, with a few of other Jaguar Dealers from JBOC, to visit the UK for a ride and drive of the new XKR and XFR at Jaguar’s race track. Only Jaguar could arrange snow for the week we were there. We also discussed colors and trim for our new XJ (code name 351). I can’t really reveal too much, but it is the best looking Jaguar ever! Elegant, modern, sleek, and certainly has some XF DNA. The 351 probably has the nicest interior ever and technology that even your grandmother could use and understand.

The real excitement besides reviewing the new XJ came when we drove the new XFR, the XKR and the normally aspirated 5.0L XK on a race track with ice. I forgot to mention that the new R’s have the new 5.0L supercharged engine that beats out 510 horsepower. Fast, is it ever, but not in a brute way. It’s more like you can’t really tell that this is the fastest Jaguar ever. It even gets better CO2 ratings and is as fast, or maybe just 2/10ths less fast than any of our competition. I guess the real story is the interior of the 2010 XK—it has some of the styling cues of the XF, making it even more relevant.

You can sense a difference in the company—they know they have “over delivered” and now when you look at the lineup of Jaguars, you can see the future taking shape. Nice work guys and gals at Jaguar. The future of Jaguar is going to be more historic than it’s past.

My Trip to the Detroit Auto Show

I arrived in Detroit on Sunday January 16th, got my press credentials and was off to the auto show. As always, Jaguar press conferences draw a crowd, and what a crowd indeed. Jaguar’s newest model launches include two very special Jaguars, the XKR and the XFR. These super-powerful Jaguars feature our newest engine, a 5.0L supercharged with 510 horsepower which performs 0-60 in just 4.7 seconds according to Jaguar, but manufacturers always underestimate—I bet they probably can do it under 4.5 seconds.





What can I say except the XKR and XFR were absolutely gorgeous. Just a few minor trim and interior changes just make these new models look so much better. The interior of the XK has a more mornernodel look, with some styling cues from our XF, including weaved aluminum trim. More leather, if there’s any room for it, just looks better, but the car doesn’t look beefier. While very fast, a woman wouldn’t feel like she was in a Smokie and the Bandit car, it’s elegant and modern, like a Jaguar should be. The 3 days I spent at the auto show were great as usual.



More to follow…