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Cat Scratch Fever: Jaguar's turnaround looks toward the US

It is ironic that a British car company, steeped in the European sports-car tradition and now owned by an Indian industrial conglomerate, will ambitiously be seeking to attract customers in the United States with, of all things, a truck. But there it is: Jaguar's beefy F-Pace crossover, the first SUV in the company's 80-year history, hit the ground last month at the Frankfurt motor show. The F-Pace – along with the new XE sedan designed to take on the BMW 3 Series and Audi A4 both in Europe and on these shores – is spearheading the brand's hoped-for turnaround on this side of the Pond. In the States, Jaguar is still a big player for Tata Motors of India, which bought Jaguar Land Rover from Ford for $2.3 billion after months of back-and-forth negotiations in 2008. It seemed like an incredibly brassy move at the time, when the economy worldwide was reeling and Britain's automotive industry was on its heels. And while the Jaguar brand name has a grand historical resonance, in the first nine months of 2015 it moved just over 11,000 cars in the US, down five percent for the same period the previous year. But if Porsche can capitalize on SUV sales, so can Jaguar. The tea leaves are promising come next spring, when both new premium luxury models arrive in the US. The F-Pace will have a starting price of about $43,000; the sedan range starts at a competitive $35,000. View 25 Photos Architecturally, both models are similar, with a modular aluminum chassis, and, for the F-Pace, a range of gasoline and diesel engines for Europe as well as rear- or all-wheel drive. For the American market, the model-year 2017 crossover will launch with a 380-horsepower gasoline V6 mated to an eight-speed transmission and all-wheel drive. Later in 2016, a 180-hp four-cylinder Ingenium diesel is expected to be added to the lineup. Both models are currently built in the UK, although if demand increases, Jaguar is likely to shift some production to Brazil, China, or Eastern Europe. I wanted a Jaguar that was designed as a crossover, not the other way round. For Jaguar design director Ian Callum, who showed up at the SUV's formal debut in Frankfurt, skepticism – did we mention that Jaguar was a sports-car company? – turned to enthusiasm as his team worked to develop some "drama" in the SUV's shape. "I wanted a Jaguar that was designed as a crossover, not the other way round," he said.

Hardcore Jaguar F-Type underway, 600 horsepower possible

Thanks to an already potent range of supercharged engines with some of the best exhaust notes available, the Jaguar F-Type is without a doubt a sublime performer. Still, there's always room to grow, and we are getting another good look from the Nurburgring at what's suspected to be an even more powerful version on the way. Spy shots of what was believed to be the Jaguar F-Type R-S first came out last spring. This time the roadster is practically uncamouflaged, though. The similarities are definitely there, and both test cars wear the same wheel design and quad-tailpipe rear diffuser. The latest one lacks the massive front splitter jutting out but gets a quite large, fixed trunk lid spoiler at the rear. You can also spot some large-diameter ceramic brake discs behind the wheels. The things happening under the bonnet might be even more interesting, though. To befit all of the exterior performance upgrades, Jaguar's supercharged 5.0-liter V8 is expected to nestle between the front wheels, and the mill is likely getting a boost in power to take output to 580 or even 600 horsepower, versus 550hp in standard form. Hopefully, the extra grunt makes the exhaust note even more intoxicating, as well. Featured Gallery Jaguar F-Type R-S Spy Shots Image Credit: CarPix Design/Style Spy Photos Jaguar Convertible Performance jaguar f-type r jaguar f-type r-s

Watch thieves dressed like ninjas hit dealership, steal $583,000 worth of Land Rovers

WAUKESHA, Wis. — A group of teenagers believed to be from the Chicago area broke into a luxury car dealership in Wisconsin and drove off with nine vehicles worth more than a half-million dollars, police said. Sunday's heist at a Jaguar-Land Rover dealership in Waukesha was captured on surveillance camera footage showing nine masked suspects filing into the dealership before each drives off in a car in the city about 19 miles (30.5 kilometers) west of Milwaukee. The video also shows one car being backed up and smashed through an overhead service door. Waukesha Police Capt. Dan Baumann said the suspects broke into the dealership about 6 a.m. Sunday, found where its car keys were stored and then activated those key fobs to find the cars they stole. “Nine subjects went out and throughout there looking for keys. One person finds where the keys were hidden and then starts to disseminate those to his friends,” Baumann told WISN-TV. The nine vehicles are valued at more than $583,000, he said. One suspect, a 17-year-old Chicago boy, was arrested Sunday in the southern Wisconsin community of Pleasant Prairie after the stolen vehicle he was driving crashed along Interstate 94 during a police pursuit. He was being held at the Waukesha County Jail on a $50,000 bond and faces burglary, theft and criminal damage to property charges, Baumann said. Police said Sunday that the suspects are believed to be “an organized crime group of teenagers from the Chicago area.” Baumann said Friday that all or most of the teen suspects are known to members of a police task force in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and police in that two-state region were still searching Friday for the eight other suspects. Six of the nine stolen vehicles have been recovered — four in Chicago, one in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, and one in Wisconsin after the highway crash that led to the 17-year-old's arrest, he said.