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Jaguar envisions future without V8 engines

With tighter emissions and fuel economy regulations looming, Jaguar may have to do more than make a small, fuel-efficient hatchback to lower its model range's consumption figures - it also might give up its venerable V8 power, Drive reports. But not anytime soon, says Steven de Ploey, Jaguar's product and marketing director, who recognizes that the V8 can be replaced only by something that offers the same, or better, performance. But he has a word of caution: "We are not wedded to V8s."
In the meantime, de Ploey says there are other ways to reduce emissions. One of the first steps Jaguar could take is to shift away from the use of superchargers, which aren't as good as turbochargers at maintaining efficiency and making power. But he adds that supercharging still is "at the heart of Jaguar's performance proposition," and that the company has addressed the current downsizing trend by "replacing our naturally aspirated V8 with a 3.0-liter supercharged V6."
Consider one of de Ploey's comments on the cancelled C-X75 supercar (pictured) for some clue about Jaguar's future: "Some of the stuff we have already exploited to the extreme in the C-X75 is the kind of thinking for us and is an essential test bed to see how we could evolve from today to something that is sustainable in the future."

Environmental group accuses BMW, JLR of link to deforestation in Paraguay

ASUNCION, Paraguay — Environmental group Earthsight said on Wednesday it has linked some of Europe's largest carmakers to the deforestation of the Chaco, a dry forest region of Paraguay home to jaguars and one of the last uncontacted indigenous groups in the world. The group said in a report that livestock companies have illegally logged lands of the Ayoreo Totobiegosode indigenous ethnic group, some of whose members live in voluntary isolation. The livestock skin is used in leather upholstery of luxury vehicles sold by high-end European auto brands including BMW, Jaguar and Land Rover, the group said. UK-based Earthsight said it had made covert visits to tanneries that bragged about supplying the raw material to the luxury car brands. "BMW is using hides sourced from two slaughterhouses processing cows from ranches responsible for illegal [logging] in the Ayoreo Totobiegosode's forests. Jaguar Land Rover didn't dispute sourcing from a Paraguayan tannery that processes hides from another slaughterhouse doing the same," the report said. Jaguar Land Rover said in a statement to Reuters it had found no evidence to verify Earthsight's claims. It said its European suppliers assured sustainability. "We continue  our drive for further transparency and, in this case, the leather supplier in Europe verifies with each raw material supplier that no rural property that directly supplies it is involved in illegal deforestation," the automaker said. BMW did not respond to a request for comment on the Earthsight investigation. Paraguay exports about 50,000 tons of wet-blue leather (tanned, but not dried, dyed or finished) a year, and almost two-thirds of those shipments are bound for Europe, according to the report. Automakers say that leather is a byproduct of the far larger meat industry and high-end cars constitute a comparatively small market niche. But indigenous leaders say deforestation driven by growth in beef and leather exports is encroaching on their territory and destroying their way of life. "As deforestation advances with extensive cattle ranching, they are being imprisoned, they are disappearing," Taguide Picanerai, a spokesman for the Ayoreo community in the Alto Paraguay department, northwest of Asuncion, told Reuters. The region is home to some of the world's highest rates of deforestation, Earthsight said.   Green BMW Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar F-Type squares off against Porsche 911, Aston V8 Vantage with Chris Harris

Chris Harris is back on the job, taking on really really difficult car questions like: Which enormously sexy and good-to-drive, high-performance convertible is the top of the heap? As one of the hottest cars in the luxury space right now, the Jaguar F-Type S is, of course, in on the action. Competition comes in the form of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster and the Porsche 911 Carrera S Cabriolet. Sun-loving CEOs who despise test-driving need look no further.
Scroll on below for a fully featured (with a running time of more than 20 minutes) comparison video. Harris does his best to entertain - in a typically nitpicky and made-up-British-words fashion - and the moving pictures are lovely to look at. Kick back, pour a pint and get your weekend started off right.