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European automakers gear up for Brazilian production

Brazil is the place to be, apparently. Toyota has been investing in the South American country, as has BMW, which announced a $261 million investment in October 2012, on the heels of an Audi factory announcement in San José Chiapa. The high-end immigration is only set to continue, as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar-Land Rover have both announced plans to set up manufacturing operations there.
Mercedes is the big news here, as its new facility will see the German manufacturer invest 170-million euros for production of its next-generation C-Class and upcoming GLA-Class. "Brazil is an important future market. With our local production we accept the challenge and take on the competition," noted Andreas Renschler, Management Board member for Production and Procurement at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans. Production is expected to begin by 2016.
Jaguar-Land Rover, meanwhile, isn't so concrete in its plans. The news of its investment in South America comes from a job posting for a plant quality manager in Brazil that was picked up by the UK's AutoCar. "Portuguese language skills will be definite advantage" for interested candidates, according to the job listing. The want ad follows on the heels of remarks by Jaguar Land Rover's Dr. Ralph Speth, who said there are "very intensive discussions" with Brazil's government. Unlike Mercedes, there's no mention of which vehicles will be produced in South America, although AutoCar thinks the Freelander, sold in the US as the LR2, is a leading contender.

Chris Harris finds the Jaguar F-Type R Coupe rather drifty

Our own Matt Davis may have called the new Jaguar F-Type R Coupe "one heady rascal," but our review was disappointingly short on drifting, tire smoke and general, English shenanigans. You know, the sort of things that Chris Harris from Drive excels at.
Actually, relative to Harris' other reviews, this one is rather serious. There's a good recap of the F-Type on the road, with Harris referencing the car's "great bottom" and "amazing ass," quite frequently. Surprisingly, Harris says the more powerful F-Type R is just "incrementally" faster than the 495-horsepower F-Type V8 S Convertible. Following the on-road portion, it's off to the track. You can probably predict what goes on there. Overall, aside from some quibbles, Harris has nothing but praise for the newest cat.
We've got the entire video available below. Scroll down, have a look and let us know what you think in Comments.

Jaguar F-Type Coupe is here, will debut on stage in LA

When Jaguar previewed its new sportscar two years ago with the C-X16 concept, it showed a coupe form. But when the car hit production as the F-Type, it rolled out in roadster form only. Not that we're complaining, but we all knew it wouldn't be long before Coventry revealed the production coupe, and that's just what it's doing at this month's LA Auto Show.
Jaguar hasn't given us much to go on yet - just a single shot of the vehicle from above and nothing in the way of technical details - but we all know the drill. The F-Type Coupe will essentially be the same as the existing roadster, only with a fixed roof - with a large glass panel, mind you, to let plenty of light in and keep the cabin from feeling markedly more claustrophobic than the open-top version.
That ought to make it a little lighter (though not much) and a little stiffer, but otherwise we can expect more or less the same specs as the convertible. We'll have to wait until the evening of November 19 to know for sure, though, so watch this space for more.