Jaguar XK 2010 News

So when Shell Australia's new boss Ann Pickard came to Australia, she had more trouble buying a car than expected. The US-born business dynamo, described by Fortune Magazine as "the bravest woman in oil and one of the 50 most powerful women in business" was vice-president of the company's operation in south-Saharan Africa, based in Lagos, Nigeria. "I had a Land Cruiser for the five-and-a-half years I was there," Pickard says. "So when I got the chance to move to Australia, I decided to treat myself to something a little more to my liking. I opted for a Jaguar XKR, and since I would be based in Perth, sought out the local Jag agents." She phoned to order the car but didn't get past reception. "I said 'hello, I'm Ann Pickard from Nigeria' and the next thing I heard was a click as the line went dead," she says. It happened several times before the proverbial penny dropped, so she resorted to email. Even that took some convincing - and fortunately someone at the Perth premium car dealership took it seriously. Pickard got her car, but that wasn't the end of her dramas. The long-awaited Jag was soon stolen - something that never happened to her in Nigeria - but it was found again only hours later, and life for Pickard purrs on.

The Jaguar XK coupe and convertible are set for a mid-year arrival in Australia. Jaguar Australia managing director David Blackhall said the all-aluminium XK convertible would be priced at $221,900 and the coupe at $199,990. The Jaguars will have the same slick ZF six-speed gearboxes featured in some of the Ford BF Falcon and SY Territory range. Blackhall also announced that the first Jaguar diesel, the S-Type twin-turbo 2.7-litre four-cylinder, will arrive in April and cost $101,490. It will also feature at the Brisbane show. "There has been growth in demand for diesel in Australia," Blackhall said. The S-Type diesel is part of an expanded range of diesels which Jag will bring into Australia. The diesel sits on 18-inch wheels and has 153kW of power but, more importantly, offers a prodigious 435Nm of torque.