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Jaguar Land Rover to upgrade Castle Bromwich plant to build EVs

LONDON — Jaguar Land Rover is making a multi-million pound investment to build electric vehicles in Britain, in a major boost for the UK government and a sector hit by the slump in diesel sales and Brexit uncertainty. Britain's biggest car company, which built 30 percent of the UK's 1.5 million cars last year, will make a range of electrified vehicles at its Castle Bromwich plant in central England, beginning with its luxury saloon, the XJ. "The future of mobility is electric and, as a visionary British company, we are committed to making our next generation of zero-emission vehicles in the UK," Chief Executive Ralf Speth said on Friday. The announcement gives a boost to Britain's automotive sector hit this year by Honda and Ford's plans to close factories. Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has highlighted the dangers of a no-deal Brexit and the need to maintain frictionless trade with the European Union, echoing warnings from the industry that just-in-time production could be hit by customs delays and additional bureaucracy. But it has signed a deal with workers at the Castle Bromwich factory to go from a five-day to a four-day working week with the same amount of hours which should allow the plant to operate more efficiently. Three of JLR's four European car plants are in Britain, giving it limited capacity elsewhere on the continent. The other, in Slovakia, only opened last year and is still being ramped up with other models allocated there. "We are making this investment because the ongoing Brexit uncertainty has left us with no choice, we had to act, for our employees and our business," JLR said. "We are committed to the UK as our home and will fight to stay here but we need the right deal." Both candidates to replace Prime Minister Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, have both said they are prepared to take Britain out of the EU on Oct. 31 without a deal, although it is not their preferred option. Brexiteers have argued that the EUÂ’s biggest economy Germany, which exports hundreds of thousands of cars to Britain ever year, would do its utmost to protect that trade Friday's announcement comes after a turbulent few months for Jaguar which announced around 4,500 job cuts earlier in January and posted a 3.66 billion pound ($4.5 billion) loss in 2018/19.

Has the Jaguar XKR-S Sportbrake leaked out early?

Want to haul ass down the Autobahn with the whole family and all their gear in tow? Forget that Porsche Cayenne or Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT8 - what you'll want is a power wagon: something like an Audi RS6 Avant or Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG Estate. Unfortunately there are precious few of these performance station wagons on the market anywhere, especially with American offerings like the Cadillac CTS-V Sport Wagon on its way out and the Dodge Magnum SRT8 long gone. But there's a new challenger emerging.
That'd be the Jaguar XFR-S Sportbrake, a hi-po estate from Coventry that's been a long time in the making. And now it's apparently almost here. (Only by "here," we mean "there," as it's not likely ever to come to the United States.)
Apparently set to be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show is a Frankenstein-style cross between a Jaguar XF Sportbrake and XFR-S performance sedan, taking the best elements from both. From the former, that means the extended roofline that gives it the cargo capacity of a small crossover. From the former, that means a 5.0-liter supercharged V8 producing 542 horsepower and 502 pound-feet of torque, driving the rear wheels through an eight-speed automatic transmission.

2018 Jaguar E-Pace (almost) revealed in new spy photos

Each time we've seen the Jaguar E-Pace out testing, it has been covered in a variety of fake plastic body parts to obscure the actual body. Finally, Jaguar relaxed its camouflage campaign, giving us the chance to see the car's bodywork almost entirely exposed. The only disguise this car was wearing was a form-fitting vinyl wrap. The test car in question confirms a number of our suspicions. The rear hatch is, indeed, extremely raked, which gives the vehicle a sportier look, though will surely reduce cargo capacity. If this crossover was coming from one of the German automakers, they would probably call this a "coupe." The front and rear fenders are also rather exaggerated, and the rear haunches are accented by a rising window line that ends in a pinched-off quarter window. The nose and tail of the crossover are pretty standard Jaguar. The layout of the lights and grilles are generally what you would find on its big brother, the F-Pace. The headlights appear to have some sort of LED arrangement as there are no clearly defined projector or reflector elements. Of course, there's no guarantee that these lights will be used across the line-up. They may just be a feature on higher trim levels. Now that we've also seen the car with so few covers and with production-ready sheet metal, we now expect to see the E-Pace fully revealed in person very soon, probably by the end of the year. It will likely be a 2018 model, and may share engines and drivetrains with the Land Rover Range Rover Evoque, since the body shape matches that of a vehicle with a transverse mounted engine. Related Video: Featured Gallery Jaguar E-Pace Spy Shots View 30 Photos Image Credit: KGP Photography Spy Photos Jaguar Crossover SUV Luxury jaguar e-pace