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Jay Leno's Garage drives Steve McQueen's 1956 Jaguar XKSS

Steve McQueen might be the coolest American male of the 20th century. With movies like Bullitt and Le Mans, McQueen established himself as the king of cool of his era, and on the list of actors you would pick for a fantasy racing team - he or Paul Newman are the natural first choices. The latest Jay Leno's Garage video highlights one of McQueen's most special cars - a 1956 Jaguar XKSS.
Just 16 XKSS models were made because a fire at the Jaguar factory halted production. It was meant to be a street version of the company's very successful D-Type racer, with a modified version of its 3.4-liter straight-six-engine and a four-speed manual gearbox. McQueen clearly had an eye for great vehicles. He drove his Jag around Los Angeles years after it was a cutting-edge piece of technology. Since then, it became part of the Petersen Automotive Museum in LA. Autoblog's The List even took a ride in it when the show visited the museum.
The XKSS is one of the pinnacles of automotive design of the '50s, and its association with McQueen makes this example even more extraordinary. Leno is in love with the car from the moment he sees it, and it's hard to argue with him. Between its emphasized curves and raspy exhaust, this is one sexy Jag. Scroll down to get an eyeful and earful from one of McQueen's favorite cars.

Jaguar testing facelifted XJ in UK

Europe's flagship luxury sedans don't go through their lifecycles quite as quickly as other models need to, but with the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class hitting the road, Jaguar must feel it's time for a little update for its XJ sedan. And as these spy shots demonstrate, that's just what it has in store.
Falling firmly in the subtle-facelift category (as opposed to the full refresh), the placement of the camouflage on this new XJ appears to be hiding new fascias front and rear. Reshaped bumpers, trunk lid, grille and air apertures seem to be part of the impending facelift, but for better or worse, those black rear pillars seem to be staying put.
While Jaguar's at it, we can expect some updates to the cabin as well, with upgraded infotainment, ambient lighting and such. But don't go expecting anything radical at this stage. The XJ has been on the market for about four years, and it'll be another few before it demands a complete overhaul.

Recharge Wrap-up: Jaguar's aluminum recycling, lithium demand rises

Jaguar Land Rover has recycled over 50 metric tons of aluminum over the past year. As Jaguar celebrates a year of sales of the XE – which makes use of recycled aluminum – its closed loop recycling program has prevented some 500,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. The XE is the first car in Jaguar's REALCAR (short for REcycled ALuminium CAR) program, and the company says it has recycled an amount equal to almost 200,000 XE body shells. "Its success so far marks a significant step towards our goal of having up to 75 percent recycled aluminium content in our vehicle body structures by 2020," says Group Engineering Director Nick Rogers. Check out the video above, and read more from Jaguar. Electric vehicle manufacturers are putting a strain on lithium supplies. Since the metal is used in the batteries of most electric vehicles, demand is expected to grow by 8.8 percent a year through 2019. While Tesla has deals with natural resource companies Pure Energy Minerals and Bacanora Minerals, they won't be able to keep up with the automaker's goal of 500,000 EVs by 2020. Tesla, BYD, and other EV manufacturers are going to be competing for these resources, and new lithium firms will enter the market to compete for automakers' business. Read more in the press release or the blog post from Market Research. Connecticut's Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) has announced a new funding opportunity for building public EV charging infrastructure. DEEP is accepting applications from private entities for awards of up to $10,000 for installing a public dual-head charger or two single-head chargers, for up to 17 new charging stations. It prefers proposals for underserved areas with major traffic, such as downtowns. Connecticut has a goal of putting 3.3 million EVs on the road by 2025. Read more in the notice from DEEP, or visit DEEP's website. Car clubs are responsible for the removal of about 25,000 cars from London roads. According to a new survey, every club car removes 10 private cars, as club members sell their own vehicles. The survey of 4,000 Londoners also shows that carsharing members drive an average of 750 fewer miles every year after joining. London is currently home to 186,000 car club members using 2,800 cars, while the UK's 220,000 club members use over 3,800 club cars. Also, many car clubs offer access to electric vehicles, which helps to further reduce emissions.