1969 Jaguar Xke Roadster Silver Classic Beauty In&out Just Released By Collector on 2040-cars

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The mood at this year’s Paris Motor Show: Quiet

The Paris Motor Show, held every other year in the early fall, typically kicks off the annual cavalcade of automotive conclaves, one that traverses the globe between autumn and spring, introducing projective, conceptual and production-ready vehicle models to the international automotive press, automotive aficionados and a public hungry for news of our increasingly futuristic mobility enterprise. But this year, at the press preview days for the show, the grounds of the Porte de Versailles convention center felt a bit more sparsely populated than usual. This was not simply a subjective sensation, or one influenced by the center's atypically dispersed assemblage of seven discrete buildings, which tends to spread out the cars and the crowds. There were not only fewer new vehicles being premiered in Paris this year, there were fewer manufacturers there to display them. Major mainstream European OEM stalwarts such as Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Nissan and Volkswagen chose to sit out Paris this year, as did boutique manufacturers like Bentley, Aston Martin and Lamborghini. This is not simply based in some antipathy on the part of the German, British and Italian manufacturers toward the French market — though for a variety of historical and societal reasons that market may be more dominated by vehicles produced domestically than others. Rather, it is part of a larger trend in the industry. Last year, Mercedes-Benz announced that it would not be participating in the flagship North American International Auto Show in 2019 — and that it might not return. Other brands including Jaguar/Land Rover, Audi, Porsche, Mazda and nearly every exotic carmaker have also departed the Detroit show. Some of these brands will still appear in the city in which the show is taking place, and host an event offsite, to capitalize on the presence of a large number of reporters in attendance. And even brands that do have a presence at the show have shifted their vehicle introductions to the days before the official press opening in an attempt to stand out from the crowd. In many ways, this makes sense. With an expanding number of automakers, with diversification and niche-ification of models and with wholesale shifts that necessitate the introduction of EV or autonomous sub-brands, there is a growing sense that, with everyone shouting at the same time, no one can be heard.

Evil Brits star in Jaguar's first-ever Super Bowl commercial

Chrysler's Imported from Detroit commercial from Super Bowl XLV is one of the most powerful car commercials in recent memory, and Jaguar is taking a similar approach - albeit with a more villainous spin - for its first-ever Super Bowl spot titled Rendezvous. While Chrysler and Eminem focused on hometown cheerleading, Jaguar is using its $8 million (the going rate for a 60-second commercial in this year's game) to play up the Hollywood tradition of typecasting a Brit as the bad guy.
In the spot highlighting the all-new F-Type Coupe, Jaguar looked to director Tom Hooper (the man behind movies like The King's Speech and 2012's Les Misérables), who filmed on location in London with British bad guy actors Mark Strong, Ben Kingsley and Tom Hiddleston. As the commercial implies, Brits make perfect bad guys with their style, sound and power, which are all traits evident in the F-Type.
The commercial will air in the fourth quarter of this Sunday's game, but you can watch it now in the video posted below. Jaguar has also included a press release as well as a second behind-the-scenes video showing how the ad was made.

2016 Jaguar XE is ready to stalk the competition

The XE wears some of the best styling elements from Jaguar's current litter.
Big sedans and sports cars. Jaguar has been known for those two things since the company's name was birthed in 1945. Stylish saloons like the Mark 2 and performance machines like the E-Type make up the brand's heritage, but the compact sedan market is one where the British marque has lacked great product.