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Jaguar opens new engine plant in the UK

The heads of Jaguar Land Rover are having a busy couple of weeks opening factories. Just days after inaugurating the company's first overseas plant in China, the automaker's new Engine Manufacturing Center in the UK is being inaugurated, as well. The plant near Wolverhampton, England, marks the first time in decades that JLR is building its own powerplants in-house. Further signaling the importance of this launch for the business, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were on hand and even tweeted about it.
The factory's first major project is to build JLR's latest Ingenium four-cylinders, starting with the 2.0-liter diesel version. "Our new Engine Manufacturing Centre is an important step in advancing the competitiveness and capability of the UK automotive sector. The production of in-house engines will support the expansion of the UK supply chain providing critical mass for inward investment," said Trevor Leeks, plant operations director in the automaker's announcement.
Opening the doors to the Engine Manufacturing Center has been years in the making for JLR. The plant was first announced in September 2011 and broke ground in June 2012. Building it cost the company 500 million pounds ($800 million) and created 1,400 new jobs. Of course, being a state-of-the-art factory, considerations were made to make the place as energy efficient as possible. That meant installing the UK's largest solar array with 21,000 panels to produce about 30 percent of the site's electricity needs.

Lister says it'll tune F-Pace SVR into the world's fastest SUV

The Jaguar F-Pace SVR is fast. Blisteringly fast. With its 550-horsepower, five-liter V8 it will hit 60 mph in just 4.1 seconds and go on to 176 mph. That sounds like the perfect blank canvas for Jaguar outfitter Lister, doesn't it? Known for its Jaguar-based race cars and road-going specials, Lister has built some legendary cars in its time. Now, accompanied by the teaser image the company's account tweeted yesterday, Lister says it'll build the world's fastest SUV out of the F-Pace SVR. It'll actually have to be really, really quick, as several sports utility vehicles now hit 60 mph in well under 4 seconds. The Tesla Model X P100D does that in 2.9 seconds with Ludicrous Mode selected, thanks to its electric grunt. On the fossil fuel side of things, there's the Grand Cherokee Trackhawk, which relies on the 707hp Hellcat V8 to reach 60 mph in 3.5 seconds. That number is matched by the Lamborghini Urus, and another Italian, the Alfa Romeo Stelvio Quadrifoglio can get to 60 in under 4 seconds. Beat all of those, Lister, and the throne is yours. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Earlier in an Autocar interview, Lister's Lawrence Whittaker claimed the Lister-tuned SVR will have as much as 670 horsepower, a good hike up from the stock vehicle's power figure. Reportedly 250 units will be built. Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Image Credit: Lister Cars Jaguar Crossover SUV jaguar f-pace lister jaguar f-pace svr

Jaguar shows the face of its upcoming XE S sports sedan

Jaguar has a bunch of projects in the hopper, from the replacements for the XJ sedan and XK coupe/convertible to its very first crossover. But arguably the most important among them is the XE - the British automaker's upcoming new sports sedan. Coventry has given us all sorts of peeks at what to expect from the new XE, from a shadowy rendering of the front end to a photo of a camo-wrapped prototype. But this is our best look yet.
As part of an announcement of a planned audio-visual spectacle scheduled to herald the arrival of the XE, Jaguar has released the image you see above, showing the undisguised XE in apparent S specification. From what we can see, it sports a fascia that looks pretty much exactly as we'd expect, though that's no bad thing. The XE is set to introduce the new Ingenium family of 2.0-liter four-cylinder engines. Whether the XE S shown here would carry a version of that (with a potential supercharger) or transplant the 3.0-liter supercharged V6 from the F-Type S remains to be seen, but whatever's under the hood, we'd expect it to hold the top end of the XE range - at least for the car's introduction before a potential R, R-S or SVR version might come along to supplant it.
One way or another, don't be surprised if you see some BMW 3 Series sedans pacing down the street nervously for the next little while. In the meantime, you can scope out all the glorious details of Jaguar's planned collaborations with the likes of Emeli Sandé, Stella McCartney and Idris Elba as part of the FEEL XE campaign in the press release below.