1967 Jaguar Xke (e-type) Series I Coupe 2+2, All Original, 4-speed, 4.2l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Jaguar Land Rover said to favor Europe rather than US for new plant

With its plants running at full tilt, Jaguar Land Rover is in desperate need of additional manufacturing capacity. That's led to reports that the Indian-owned British company was looking to join European, Japanese and Korean automakers in America's southern states, all while it opened new plants in the UK and China. The company even announced it would be building the Land Rover Discovery Sport in Brazil. Now, though, reports are suggesting that JLR is looking at Europe for a new facility, rather than the US, with Automotive News claiming the company's execs are eyeing the lower costs afforded by Austria and Turkey. The report cites the Birmingham Post (UK), the broadsheet that's closest to the company's headquarters. According to the original report, labor costs and wage disputes with unions are ruling out another factory in the UK, while those same disputes with labor outfits may also be souring the automaker on a US facility. "At this stage Europe seems more likely than America. The union pay dispute had a big effect," an unnamed source told the Post. "There is a feeling of alienation that has been left over from the way the pay talks were handled." JLR, meanwhile, offered a solid no comment to the Post, with a spokesperson saying, "No decision has been taken on future manufacturing locations. We will continue to evaluate opportunities to increase our manufacturing footprint in the future." Related Video:

Unlatched Jaguar E-Type hood doesn't prevent blind overtakes at Goodwood

One of the things about Goodwood Revival that really sticks with you is that the classic racing cars are really driven hard there. It's never a slow parade around the track, but instead the vintage Ferraris and Jaguars really battle each other, metal against metal, lap after lap. The result is often scraped and bent sheetmetal, no matter how pricelessly valuable the vintage cars are. This clip, shared on the Goodwood Road & Racing YouTube channel, really shows the attitude that makes Goodwood what it is. Rob Huff, in a fixed-roof E-type, is chasing after Nigel Greensall in an E-type Roadster in the Kinrara Trophy race, and man, he really wants to get past. The problem is that every time the nose of Huff's Jaguar gently taps the rear quarter of the white Jaguar, the car's large hood wants to flip up and obscure the view, making overtaking even harder than it already is. Clearly Greensall doesn't want to let Huff ahead of him all that easily. We can only imagine how much work it takes to keep a classic Jaguar like that pointing in the right direction on a slightly wet track, let alone driving blind on a racecourse due to a massive clamshell hood in the way. At least we get a view of the XK six-cylinder engine. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

BMW and Jaguar Land Rover to jointly develop electric car tech

FRANKFURT – BMW and Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday said they will jointly develop electric motors, transmissions and power electronics, unveiling yet another industry alliance designed to lower the costs of developing electric cars. Both carmakers are under pressure to roll out zero-emission vehicles to meet stringent anti-pollution rules, but have struggled to maintain profit margins faced with the rising costs of making electric, connected and autonomous cars. "Together, we have the opportunity to cater more effectively for customer needs by shortening development time and bringing vehicles and state-of-the-art technologies more rapidly to market," said BMW board member Klaus Froehlich. BMW and Jaguar Land Rover said they will save costs through shared development, production planning and joint purchasing of electric car components. Both companies will produce electric drivetrains in their own manufacturing facilities, BMW said. The BMW Jaguar Land Rover pact comes as rivals FiatChrysler and Renault explore a $35 billion tie-up of the Italian-American and French carmaking groups. Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover's engineering director said, "We've proven we can build world beating electric cars but now we need to scale the technology to support the next generation of Jaguar and Land Rover products." BMW was in talks with rival Daimler about developing electric car components but was also in discussions with Jaguar Land Rover, a company it once owned, to explore an alliance on engines. BMW already has a deal to supply an 8 cylinder engine to Jaguar Land Rover. Carmakers are increasingly open to sharing electric car parts because the technology is expensive and because customers no longer buy a car based on what engine a vehicle has. "Carmakers are much less precious about sharing electric car technology because it is much harder to create product differentiation with electric car tech. They all accelerate fast, and everybody can do quality and ride and handling," according to Carl-Peter Forster a former chief executive of Tata Motors and a former BMW executive. Jaguar Land Rover is still run by former BMW managers, including Ralf Speth the company's chief executive who spent 20 years at BMW prior to joining JLR, and Wolfgang Ziebart, the engineer who oversaw Jaguar's I-Pace electric car program, who is a former head of research and development at BMW.