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The UK votes for Brexit and it will impact automakers

It's the first morning after the United Kingdom voted for what's become known as Brexit – that is, to leave the European Union and its tariff-free internal market. Now begins a two-year process in which the UK will have to negotiate with the rest of the EU trading bloc, which is its largest export market, about many things. One of them may be tariffs, and that could severely impact any automaker that builds cars in the UK. This doesn't just mean companies that you think of as British, like Mini and Jaguar. Both of those automakers are owned by foreign companies, incidentally. Mini and Rolls-Royce are owned by BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover by Tata Motors of India, and Bentley by the VW Group. Many other automakers produce cars in the UK for sale within that country and also export to the EU. Tariffs could damage the profits of each of these companies, and perhaps cause them to shift manufacturing out of the UK, significantly damaging the country's resurgent manufacturing industry. Autonews Europe dug up some interesting numbers on that last point. Nissan, the country's second-largest auto producer, builds 475k or so cars in the UK but the vast majority are sent abroad. Toyota built 190k cars last year in Britain, of which 75 percent went to the EU and just 10 percent were sold in the country. Investors are skittish at the news. The value of the pound sterling has plummeted by 8 percent as of this writing, at one point yesterday reaching levels not seen since 1985. Shares at Tata Motors, which counts Jaguar and Land Rover as bright jewels in its portfolio, were off by nearly 12 percent according to Autonews Europe. So what happens next? No one's terribly sure, although the feeling seems to be that the jilted EU will impost tariffs of up to 10 percent on UK exports. It's likely that the UK will reciprocate, and thus it'll be more expensive to buy a European-made car in the UK. Both situations will likely negatively affect the country, as both production of new cars and sales to UK consumers will both fall. Evercore Automotive Research figures the combined damage will be roughly $9b in lost profits to automakers, and an as-of-yet unquantified impact on auto production jobs. Perhaps the EU's leaders in Brussels will be in a better mood in two years, and the process won't devolve into a trade war. In the immediate wake of the Brexit vote, though, the mood is grim, the EU leadership is angry, and investors are spooked.

Jaguar F-Pace Luggage Test: How much fits in the cargo area?

The Jaguar F-Pace has been around for a while now, and perhaps it's just me, but it feels like it's been forgotten. That's a shame. This was the first time I've driven the F-Pace since the first drive event in Montenegro and therefore the first time I've really driven it in anything resembling normal conditions. And man, is it ever good, at least the R-Dynamic S you see here with the P400 engine. This is right up there with the Porsche Macan and Aston Martin DBX in terms of SUVs that are legitimately great to drive. The steering alone ... chef's kiss. But I'm here to talk about cargo capacity, so enough of that driving impressions stuff. The F-Pace is bigger than compact SUVs like the Mercedes GLC and BMW X3, but it's smaller than a GLE or X5. It's fairly similar to the Lexus RX in that way, which I just-so-happened to have luggage tested last week. Perfect timing, then! The specs say that it has 26.6 cubic-feet of space behind the back seat. I have a sneaking suspicion that volume represents a measurement from the floor to top of the seat back, or roughly the cargo cover. That's not just because what I found in the course of doing this test but because the F-Pace was reported to have 33.5 cubic-feet when it was launched back for 2017. That number seems more applicable to what you'll find in other SUVs. Either way, that's kinda why I do these tests to begin with! Here is the cargo area. It is quite deep and wide with an acceptable lift-over height. The F-Pace originally had a sliding rail system running the length of the cargo area along each side, but Jaguar has apparently replaced that with the fixed tie-down points you see here. There is a rigid cargo cover in place, which is probably good for NVH, but rubbish for cargo hauling. As a result, I will be testing with and without this cover in place. As with every Luggage Test, I use two midsize roller suitcases that would need to be checked in at the airport (26 inches long, 16 wide, 11 deep), two roll-aboard suitcases that just barely fit in the overhead (24L x 15W x 10D), and one smaller roll-aboard that fits easily (23L x 15W x 10D). I also include my wife's fancy overnight bag just to spruce things up a bit (21L x 12W x 12D). All of the bags fit underneath the cargo cover, so that pretty much confirms that whole thing about the current cargo volume representing floor to seat back. Now, the fancy bag is a wee bit squished, but it still totally fit.

Jaguar is developing an electric car to join I-Pace crossover

NEW YORK — Straight from nabbing the World Car of the Year award at the New York International Auto Show for the new 2019 I-Pace electric crossover, as well as publicly unveiling the 2020 XE sport sedan, Jaguar's design chief says the brand is also developing a car with a fully electric powertrain. "We are doing more battery cars at Jaguar, yes," Ian Callum told Autoblog. "That's all I'm saying." Callum wouldn't divulge further details except to add, "When you're doing electric cars, they're new cars. They're not just batteries put in an old car. You can't do that." Jaguar has been rumored to be planning a potent all-electric version of the XJ based on its flexible new Modular Longitudinal Architecture. Jaguar Land Rover has said that it plans to offer each new or significantly redesigned model in electrified variants starting in 2020. Land Rover is also showing a mild-hybrid version of the 2020 Range Rover Evoque and 2019 Range Rover Sport, plus plug-in hybrid variants of the 2020 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. In addition to being named World Car of the Year, the I-Pace took home World Car Design of the Year and World Green Car of the Year. The F-Pace, the brand's flagship SUV, won World Car of the Year in 2017. Callum also said he believes that sedans have a future, even as he acknowledged the importance of SUVs as the brand's volume-selling "breadwinners." Jaguar is an increasingly rare breed of automaker with more cars, at four [the F-Type, XE, XF and XJ] than SUVs [the I-Pace, E-Pace and F-Pace]. "The vehicle mix is the right balance," he said. "I personally don't believe that sedans are going to disappear. People will continue to go with sedans. The range you see currently will be eventually replaced by like-sized cars. That's all I can say about that at the moment, but the XJ will be replaced, and eventually the XE and XF will be replaced. I really believe the cars are here forever, I don't think they're going to disappear in favor of SUVs."