FAST IN PHOENIX

Buckle‑up, the Jaguar ALIVE Driving Experience kicks off its 18‑city tour this weekend in Phoenix, AZ writes Natascha Wolber, National Events Manager for Jaguar Land Rover North America.

This is the largest test‑drive initiative that Jaguar has ever offered. Over the coming months, we plan to offer more than 20,000 new car buyers the chance to experience Jaguar performance, innovation, technology and luxury in this series of action‑packed three‑day events.

The idea behind the Jaguar ALIVE Driving Experience is to bring to life our new global brand direction and marketing campaign that we call ALIVE.

We’ll do this by encouraging attendees to test Jaguar’s 2012 model line‑up of high‑performance XF, XJ and XK models to their limits in several closed simulated driving courses.

And we’ll have many of our hugely‑experienced Jaguar  Performance Academy instructors, like Davy Jones, Roberto Guerrero and Adam Andretti, on hand to accompany participants as they experience the cars’ handling, acceleration and braking.

Each participant arriving for their session will be welcomed at our Jaguar Brand Center. Here they’ll be immersed in Jaguar’s four key values ‑ performance, style, technology and refinement.

After a comprehensive walk‑around of our 2012 XF, XJ and XK line‑up, they’ll head out on a street drive in a new flagship Jaguar XJ sedan.

When they return, the flow of the two‑hour program opens up with the opportunity to take part in various track‑type exercises.

There’s everything from a challenging autocross course aimed at showcasing the agility of the cars, to a skidpad where drivers can experience how onboard systems play such a crucial role in traction and stability while the car is at the limits of adhesion.

I’m pretty sure that for many attendees, the highlight of the program is going to be the demonstration of extreme acceleration and braking, when they get to experience Jaguar’s most powerful production car ever, the 550‑horsepower limited‑edition XKR‑S.

For this weekend’s kick‑off we’ll be transforming the massive parking lot at the University of Phoenix Stadium just off the 101 loop, for the first Jaguar ALIVE Driving Experience. In coming weeks, we’ll be at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in Irvine, CA (April 20‑22), then at Dodger Stadium in LA (May 4‑6) before heading to Dallas and the Lone Star Park (May 18‑20). So far we have seven venues confirmed.

Our objective is to give luxury car buyers the opportunity to really experience the performance capability of our award‑winning model line‑up in a no‑sales‑pressure environment. That’s what the Jaguar ALIVE Driving Experience is all about.

For sure, powering a 510‑horsepower Jaguar XFR around an autocross course, or an XKR‑S along a drag strip ‑ with maybe Davy Jones in the passenger seat offering encouragement ‑ is something participants aren’t going to forget in a hurry.

For a list of our planned upcoming stops and a run‑down of the cities we’ll be hitting later in the year, go to www.jaguarusa.com/JaguarALIVEDrivingExperience.