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Jaguar Land Rover to cut $6.8 billion in costs

Jaguar Land Rover reduce costs by $6.8 billion and will push annual production volume to 1 million vehicles under a secret project called Leap 4.5, according to Reuters. The British automaker wants to achieve these ambitious goals by the end of the decade to compensate for the changing market in China and to counteract the price of meeting stricter emissions standards around the world. Leap 4.5 won't mean firing workers or cutting the automaker's $4.5 billion annual research budget. JLR will instead find savings by underpinning more models with modular platforms and by adjusting its supply chain. Future factories like the one in Brazil and the proposed plant in Slovakia also won't be affected by the new strategy. Globally, JLR continues to grow, and deliveries are up two percent through October 2015 to 390,965 vehicles. Business just last month was up 24 percent year-over-year to 41,553 units. However, the auto market's downturn in China has taken a bite out the automaker's success because volume dropped there 32 percent in the third quarter, Reuters reported. A global volume of 1 million vehicles will mean more than doubling 2014's 462,678 deliveries, but JLR has made significant investments to boost production recently. In addition to the future factories, it opened its first plant in China last year and an engine assembly site in the UK. The company also signed a deal with Magna Steyr in 2015 to build an upcoming model in Austria. Related Video:

Thieves stole $3.7 million worth of Jaguar Land Rover engines

This past Tuesday was not a good one for Jaguar Land Rover. According to British news source Birmingham Mail, just over $3.7 million worth of engines were stolen from the company's factory in Solihull, England. Reportedly, the thieves drove up to the facility in a stolen semi-truck, found a trailer full of engines, hooked it up, and drove off. The thieves did this twice in one night, with the same truck, and got the first trailer in just six minutes. Perhaps more shocking is that Birmingham Mail reports this is the second time a theft of this type has occurred at the facility. The previous time happened in almost exactly the same way, but the engines taken were valued at just over $1.2 million, and five people were convicted of the crime. Currently, local police are looking for the latest suspects and the engines. The trailers were found, but were empty. We got in touch with a Jaguar representative who provided us the company's official statement: "We can confirm that we are working closely with West Midlands Police to investigate the theft of engines from the Solihull manufacturing plant. A reward is on offer to anyone who has information which leads to the successful recovery of these engines. It would be inappropriate for us to make any further comment whilst this investigation is ongoing." This was the only statement he would provide, and didn't provide answers as to what engines were stolen and if there would be any impact on manufacturing or vehicle deliveries. But if you're in the UK, and you've got a tip, let the cops know. Related Video: Related Gallery 2017 Jaguar F-Pace View 46 Photos News Source: Birmingham Mail, JaguarImage Credit: Jaguar Plants/Manufacturing Weird Car News Jaguar Land Rover Luxury jaguar land rover

Regulators consider adding more carmakers to Takata recall

Volkswagen's diesel emissions scandal has been getting a lot of press recently, but the Takata airbag inflator affair could be grabbing headlines again soon. According to Bloomberg, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is contemplating an expansion to the campaign that could add seven automakers to the 12 already affected. They are Jaguar Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Spartan Motors, Suzuki, Tesla, Volvo Trucks, and VW Group. To be clear, there's no recall for any of these automakers, yet. The government is simply asking for a full list of vehicles that each of them have with Takata-supplied inflators containing ammonium nitrate propellant. The agency is concerned this substance could play a roll in the ruptures. "NHTSA is considering not only whether to issue an administrative order that would coordinate the remedy programs associated with the current Takata recalls, but also whether such an order should include expansion of the current recalls," the letters say. All seven can be viewed, here. From a report supplied by Takata, the government already knows that the company supplied 887,055 inflators with ammonium-nitrate propellant to VW and 184,926 of them to Tesla. In an incident during the summer, a side airbag allegedly burst in a 2015 VW Tiguan. In early September, NHTSA put out a revised report that there were 23.4 million inflators to be replaced in 19.2 million vehicles in the US. An earlier accounting from the agency had about 34 million of the parts in 30 million cars. High humidity is still believed to be among the biggest risk factors for the ruptures. Although, if ammonium nitrate also gets the blame, some already recalled models might need to be repaired again. Related Video: