2011 Jaguar Xj Base Sedan 4-door 5.0l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Watch the Chevy Corvette dismiss its Euro rivals at the hands of a Brit magazine

European auto writers, especially the British, have a bit of a reputation for favoring their own domestic cars over foreign rivals in comparison tests. Just think about how many times you've heard Jeremy Clarkson deify the latest product of UK loins while denigrating an American rival as a hopeless "Yank Tank." However, we have to tip our hats to the folks at Autocar because in its latest video comparing the 2014 Corvette Stingray to the Porsche 911, Jaguar F-Type V8 S and Audi R8, it's actually given the Vette a fair shake.
Autocar has put the Stingray through a battery of tests against what it considers to be the three best sports cars on sale in Europe today. And while the tests that it has chosen are somewhat random and subjective, it has concluded that the C7 can stand up against its rivals, even irrespective of its price. It's one thing to hear about how great the Stingray is from American writers, but it's great to know that not all Brits think we've gone crazy for calling the new Chevrolet "exquisite."
Scroll down to see how it all plays out on video.

Who picks car colors and materials? Designers like Hannah Custance

As automotive journalists, we're often asked "how did you get that job?" People usually didn't even know you could do such a thing. In this 7 Questions series, we're highlighting other jobs in the automotive industry that you might not have heard about before. What do they do, how'd they get to do it and other questions about their particular corner of the car world. Slowly but surely, the automotive landscape is becoming more colorful. Look beyond the unrelentingly conservative palette of white, black and gray most buyers opt for and you'll see the increased use of exterior trim types beyond the usual chrome. There's gloss black, of course, but also other metallic finishes like gold or copper. Those can be found inside, too, where there's also an increase in colorful leathers and trims, innovative fabrics, new wood types and finishes, and greater creativity in general. So where is this change coming from? The answer is designers like Hannah Custance, the color and materials design manager for Jaguar Land Rover. Her team's latest effort is also its magnum opus, the 2022 Range Rover. Although saddled with the expectations that comes with one of the automotive industry's classic nameplates, the all-new Range Rover is also a celebration of cutting edge manufacturing and fashion-forward materials selection. We sat down with Hannah at the L.A. Auto Show to find out more about color and materials designers, how she ended up in the industry, and advice she might have for young designers out there. It has been condensed for brevity. Autoblog: What does a color and materials design manager to do?Hannah Custance: I basically look after a team of designers who design finishes for every A surface on the car. So, that could be exterior finishes. It could be interior trim materials, soft materials, hard materials, chromes, metals, woods, ceramic – that's one of the new ones – anything you can kind of touch and see is color material design. Autoblog: How early in the design process does your team become involved.Hannah: Right at the very start. In fact, we look at materials that don't have a product assigned to them or a car assigned to them. So, it takes actually a very long time for us to get materials approved and fully validated. We have to find suppliers that are willing to work in automotive and our test standards are incredibly high, some of the highest in the industry.

Is Jaguar testing an electrified XE?

Rumors about Jaguar Land Rover moving further into electrification for its models have been circulating for the last several months. Thanks to some new spy shots, there's even more evidence that the company could have a hybrid or electric model on the way. According to our spies, this rather innocuous looking XE was spied with a group of camouflaged XF and F-Pace prototypes in Spain. Everything about the luxury sedan looks fairly stock until you see the rear end. There, just under the taillight, is a circular blue badge with an "E" in it. That emblem and the vehicle being with other test cars hints at the possibility of Jaguar doing something electrified with the vehicle. Unfortunately, there are no other clues here to determine exactly what is happening underneath the skin. Jaguar Land Rover has been insinuating its intention to build greener models for a while. The company even founded an engineering center partially for them in 2013. A fully electric powertrain is reportedly under development to slot into the F-Pace and maybe also for a Land Rover. Meanwhile, Jag has a trademark on the name EV-Type. With these new photos, the signs of JLR's coming electrification continue to mount.