1989 Jaguar Xj6 Vanden Plas 35k Original Miles on 2040-cars

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Our love of SUVs is killing people in the streets

Americans are fond of supersized fast-food meals and colossal convenience-store fountain drinks, even though they're clearly bad for our health and U.S. adults keep getting fatter. We also like large vehicles, and our love affair with SUVs is killing people in the streets. According to a recent investigation by the Detroit Free Press/USA Today, the increase in SUV sales over the past several years coincides with a sharp rise in pedestrian deaths in the U.S. — up 46 percent since 2009, with nearly 6,000 people killed in 2016 alone. With SUV sales surpassing sedans in 2014 and pickups and SUVs currently accounting for 60 percent of new vehicle sales, it's no wonder Ford announced in April plans to cease U.S. sales of almost all passenger cars. And this followed Fiat Chrysler's move to virtually an all-truck, -SUV and -crossover lineup. While the Freep/USA Today investigation found that the simultaneous surge in SUV sales and pedestrian deaths comes down to vehicle size, it also points to a lack of action on the part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), even though it knew of the dangers SUVs pose to pedestrians. Also blamed are automakers dragging their feet on implementing active safety features. Using federal accident data, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) determined that there was an 81 percent increase in single-vehicle pedestrian fatalities involving SUVs between 2009 and 2016. Freep/USA Today's analysis of the same data by counting vehicles that struck and killed pedestrians instead of the number of people killed showed a 69 percent increase in SUV involvement. As far back as 2001, researchers at Rowan University forecasted a rise in pedestrian deaths as Americans began switching to SUVs. "In the United States, passenger vehicles are shifting from a fleet populated primarily by cars to a fleet dominated by light trucks and vans," the researchers wrote, with light trucks comprising SUVs.

Jaguar's Callum: 'Huge' opportunities with electric vehicles

Eventually, some brave innovator, with an imagination light years ahead of the rest of us mere mortals, will envision an automotive future that the rest of us can't conceive. This person will step up and tell us how electric vehicles have the potential to change our lives for the better. They'll have the guts to tell us that if we could only open our eyes, we'd see that there's a way to get from one place to another that doesn't pollute the air we breathe. They'll explain that it won't just be globally responsible, it'll be magnificent. Yes, the electric car needs a champion, a figurehead, someone so inspirational that comic book superheroes are modeled after him. Finally, that champion has revealed himself. Saying out loud what the enlightened few of us know but dare not utter for fear of ridicule, our hero has spoken. "Electrification will kickstart the biggest change in automotive design in history," Ian Callum, design director at Jaguar told Autocar. That Jaguar sees the potential for electric vehicles is welcome progress. Sarcasm aside, that Jaguar sees the potential for electric vehicles is welcome progress. Even more appealing is that Callum approaches the potential of EVs from a design angle, where the slate is essentially blank, he feels, and so much is possible. "The opportunities an electric powertrain offers are huge," Callum says, "especially in terms of the space for occupants. By removing so much of the mechanical hardware and placing the batteries in the floor plan you open up all sorts of possibilities with packaging." To peer into Callum's mind when it comes to EV design would be extraordinary to behold. In many ways, his vision truly is something most of us cannot grasp completely, having spent a long career designing some of the most desirable cars of our time for some of the most prestigious automotive brands on the planet. So when he talks about the freedom EVs present from a design standpoint, it's not difficult to get excited. A Jaguar EV isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first. Plus, a Jaguar EV isn't as far-fetched as it might seem at first, as Callum explains. "I'm clear in my mind that an electric Jaguar would be suitable for the brand," he says. "You have to move with the times and design for the opportunities. Look at the C-X75 concept – that was a car that was designed for an alternative powertrain, and nobody had any complaints about how that looked.

Jaguar Land Rover considering Mexican plant

Jaguar Land Rover has been expanding its production out of the UK and into overseas markets, and according to the latest word from Bloomberg, the British automaker is considering spending more than half a billion dollars to build a new assembly plant somewhere in Mexico. Since the Range Rover Sport and Evoque are two of the company's top sellers in the US, those would reportedly be the most likely to be manufactured at the Mexican plant, although Jaguars could follow as well. The automaker was previously said to be leaning towards a location in the Southern US, and while it could conceivably proceed with plans for both, it would be more likely to go with one or the other. State and local authorities below the Mason-Dixon line have been soliciting the business with various incentives, but lower labor costs South of the Border could prove more attractive to JLR and its parent company Tata. It wouldn't be the first, after all. Over the past month alone, General Motors committed to building the next Chevy Cruze in Mexico, Toyota did the same with the Corolla, Hyundai was reported to be considering a similar step, and Ford announced two new plants in the country amounting to a $2.5-billion investment. Luxury automakers like Audi, BMW and Mercedes have also been delving into Mexican production as well, blazing a path that JLR could potentially follow. The British automaker recently opened a plant in China and another in Brazil, while investing in additional facilities in the UK as well.