Whether you were unable to attend the event or simply didn’t have enough time to experience all of what the show had to offer (and there was A LOT), the 2018 Jaguar Land Rover “Electrify The Pace” Retail Conference was a huge success!
Let’s take a quick tour through some of the highlights from this year’s event.
The Welcome Reception (Sunday night)
The night before the event began, Jaguar Land Rover threw a party to get the attendees energized for the next two days of sessions and activities.
If you were hungry, there were seven premium food trucks serving up cuisines ranging from hand-tossed pizza to fresh seafood, small bites passing by every two minutes, and plenty of cocktail stations to keep the guests pleasantly refreshed.
Opening Session (Monday)
The event kicked off with a two hour session featuring Joe Eberhardt (President/CEO, JLR NA), Grant McPherson (Executive Director, Manufacturing, JLR), and Ian Hoban (Vehicle Line Director, I-Pace, Sportscars and Forward Model Architecture, JLR).
The two hours seemed to fly by as the audience was engaged, enthusiastic, and excited to hear from JLR leaders about the next wave of innovations.
Interview with Roger Penske (Monday)
The Jaguar Land Rover team put together an amazing video showcasing the career of the Penske racing team, which has seen much success over the decades.
In the interview, Roger gave insight into a number of reasons he and his team have continued to meet and exceed their goals over the years but key among them was developing talent from the ground up. He emphasized how important employee recognition is to overall team success.
Interview with Meghan Duggan (Monday)
Continuing with the theme of success, the audience was treated with a sit down with Olympic hockey gold medalist Meghan Duggan.
Meghan has been a member of the U.S. Women’s hockey team for three straight winter olympic games, medaling in all three, and winning gold in 2018.
As the captain of the team in 2018, Meghan was able to share her leadership perspective that balanced senior expertise with an open mind to the new ideas of the younger players.
Evening Reception on the USS Midway Museum (Monday)
While there was so much valuable information and insight to soak up from the conference, the event on the old naval ship USS Midway was something everyone was looking forward to.
A live band, delicious food, and all sorts of refreshments were available to enjoy. However, guests were also welcome to walk around the ship and get an up close view of what life what like on a naval ship. There were even old jets and planes that visitors could climb into and impersonate their favorite Top Gun characters.
The I-Pace
The true star of the show was Jaguar’s new all-electric car, the I-PACE. From the outside, it simply looks like a luxury SUV anyone would love to have in their driveway. From the driver’s seat though, it’s a thing from the future.
What drivers will first notice is how instantaneous the torque kicks in. Whether at a complete stop, driving up a hill, or at any other moment the I-PACE has full power from the moment you hit the pedal.
The dashboard touch screen is also packed with vehicle intelligence, making the driving experience that much safer and efficient.
Something that many will have to get used to though is the regenerative braking. In short, braking generates energy that is then stored in the battery and available for later use. Drivers will have a fun time getting used to the automatic deceleration that happens when taking their foot off the “gas” pedal. Highly advanced and very useful.
Whether or not you were able to attend the event, Jaguar Land Rover has many new vehicles coming to marketing soon. It will be exciting to see how the rest of 2018 unfolds!
