An Evening with Kevin Jones
A rather special invitation from Andy Harris of Chichester MGOC had Jonathan Kimber and myself driving down to the famous Goodwood Motor Circuit in the Club’s MGF. Andy had managed to persuade Kevin Jones, the UK PR Communications Manager for MG Rover Group to give a talk to Chichester MGOC on the 3rd February and we were very pleased to be invited.
We arrived at the circuit at dusk and as we were getting out of the MGF our attention was caught by the most wonderful sound as a dark sports car approached. A few moments later an MG XPower SV swept into the Goodwood entrance and burbled its way towards the Cadillac CafÈ the venue for the meeting. The SV looks good on a display stand but it is quite another thing to see and hear it on the road. This car needs to be experienced at first hand to appreciate it properly. Just the sound of that V8 engine, even at tick-over is enough to set any enthusiast’s heart racing. The SV certainly draws lots of attention from the general public and enthusiasts alike wherever it goes.
Kevin Jones at the 2001 Geneva Motor Show |
 Andy Harris with Kevin in the Cadillac Cafe |
 Ayrton Senna with Kevin in the MG Metro 6R4 |
The Cadillac CafÈ has a wonderful meeting room, the walls are covered with black and white photos of famous racing drivers at Goodwood and Brooklands. Among the photos was one of Lord March with his C type Midget and the comparison between specialist race bred MGs such as the C type and the MG SV is difficult to avoid.
Needless to say the chance to listen to Kevin drew a large crowd and extra chairs had to be carried up to the room, where he set up a Powerpoint presentation and spoke directly about his photographs. The first revelation of the evening was how many of the photos that accompany the press releases regularly sent out by MG Rover are taken by Kevin and his colleagues, as opposed to being ‘brochure shots’. His are the photos that fall into the more artistic category with dramatic skies and wonderful settings; some have even been used as cover shots for this magazine.
Kevin gave an insight into his work with MG Rover and his career within the motor industry. As a 9-year-old schoolboy Kevin won a Kelloggs national competition for designing ‘a car of the future’ with a radical car design and his prize was a collection of 24 Matchbox model cars, thus his close association with the motor industry was already established. Kevin started out as a teenager in the company’s Press garage operation, administering cars and he has worked his way through the company to head up the UK PR communications department. In his early years with the company, Kevin was also the Area Secretary for the Coventry MG Owners Club, at a time when the MG EX-E was launched. This work has brought Kevin into close contact with many celebrities including Ayrton Senna who once drove a MG Metro 6R4. Kevin was closely involved with last year’s celebrations for the Queen’s Jubilee and the very special 1,500,000th MG, the one-off Jubilee MG TF in which he drove in the televised cavalcade.
Kevin’ first press cutting
It was interesting to reflect on how much had happened in the story of the newly formed MG Rover Group in its brief history and the enormity of the task of getting a positive message across despite a media that is generally hostile to all things British. Some of MG’s most recent projects are particularly remarkable, the highly complex task of turning the front wheel drive MG ZT into a rear wheel drive car with V8 power is undoubtedly a considerable technical achievement which has been expertly executed by their engineers. The acquisition of Qvale in Italy and the subsequent conception and production of the MG XPower SV is yet another example of making wise use of very best design talent available.
In his concluding remarks Kevin stressed the point seldom made elsewhere in the media that the MG TF is still the best selling sportscar in the UK and that the MG ZR is the best selling hot hatch. A close look at the current MG and Rover model range reveals that they have very appealing and class-leading products in every sector right up the composite-lightweight SV ultra-car, an achievement for which they are seldom given justifiable credit. Kevin’s presentation gave his personal perspective on a fascinating story of a company that is now in the hands of genuine MG enthusiasts who are determined to build cars that other enthusiasts will want to own and drive.
After questions and a chat, Kevin was persuaded to start up the XPower SV just once more, so that the assembled company could stand around the car and listen to that evocative exhaust beat once again.
MG XPower SV at Goodwood
My thanks to Andy Harris for the invitation and Kevin Jones for a remarkable evening and for bringing along that glorious MG XPower SV – it’s a job … but Kevin clearly enjoys it!
Richard Ladds