Seems like all the XJS specialists are closing.

Pauls Jaguar in the USA

now KWE.

 

Source, please?

 

Sad news

 

I did know the business had quietly been for sale for some time. Not a growth proposition for any buyer is the plain unvarnished reality. Such businesses are dependent upon a skilled workforce with not much possibility of economies of scale either, as one skilled guy can only do one car at a time, and if you want more throughput you need more skilled guys. Add in the age profile of the average customer and it just does not make it commercially viable as a business with a future.
In the UK there is very stiff competition too.
I hope their retirement is long and happy, they did a great deal to rehabillitate the XJS in the UK.

 

Never quite got round to having any work done there but spoke to KWE for advice / quotes a few times. Always very approachable and happy to share knowledge. There is still lots of useful information on the website which is worth visiting if anyone has not already done so.

I think Greg has said it all, but this will be a sad loss to the XJS community. Best wishes for retirement and hopefully Chris will still be around to offer guidance.

LeeP

 

Fair enough closing down and I'm sure they have good reasons, but there are people with cars in mid build who have heard nothing until this notice, and that is a terrible way to treat customers. We should have been told before this with some kind of plan, instead there hasn't even been an apology, let alone any information.

 

I suspect some new XJ-S specialists will come along. Sure, they won't instantly have the name recognition, but eventually they will be looked on as the established specialists. There is a market for it, but it takes a certain type of person at a certain point in their life to make a go of it.

 

That''s a real shame. The photo records they had on their website of restored cars were/are a great resource for those of us attempting restoration work on our own cars. They also had some great articles on the cooling system etc - I hope they keep the website up.

 

Anyone know the KWE folks? There is a guy on one of the FB groups claiming to be liquidating their used inventory. Would be good to know if he is legit, cant take chances these days.

 

The official receiver is beaconllp.com. Anyone else I would be very suspicious of. Do you have a link to the advert?

 

 

Just for the archives, I spent a bit of time with waybackmachine ensuring it had a copy of all of KWE's tech articles. Sad to see it go. At least Paul's is being bought and we'll have to watch if Jaguar Aficionado - JagAFI will be able to eventually provide the level of service that Paul's did. And of course as I understand it - Johns Cars in Tx is also going out of business

~PK..

 

That's not remotely true. Not only was every current customer informed, but we found other restorers to complete the work. One cannot give advance notice in cases of voluntary insolvency in rhe UK sonce this would harm the interests of the company's creditors. Chris (Knowles)