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Jaguar Land Rover gives Lyft $25M and a fleet of cars

Lyft recently raised $600 million in a massive funding round, and now we know that $25 million of that came from Jaguar Land Rover, via its mobility services subsidiary InMotion. The car maker's investment in Lyft goes beyond just funds, however; it's providing Lyft drivers with a fleet of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles as part of the tie-up, and it's also going to work with the ride-hailing tech company on autonomous vehicle testing. This is yet another high-profile partner for Lyft after a spate of recent new collaborators, including Waymo and, just last week, Nutonomy. Now, Jaguar Land Rover is also joining the company's Open Platform for autonomous cars: The collaboration with InMotion will see the Jaguar Land Rover-owned company "develop and test its mobility services, including autonomous vehicles" using Lyft's platform. Lyft's ability to rapidly bring on a lot of partners in the car maker space, specifically around autonomy, may have a lot to do with rival Uber's ongoing problems, which now also include mounting calls for CEO Travis Kalanick to step back, at least temporarily, from his leadership role. Lyft has also been pretty clear about seeking to partner on autonomy, rather than pursue its own tech, which is likewise different from Uber's current approach. Uber, too, has brought automakers to the table around self-driving services and making use of its ride hailing platform for mobility service offerings. Both Uber and Lyft seem interested in being the layer that connects riders and these future services, and for automakers, it means leaving a complex and challenging part of the picture to partners with experience and expertise, rather than having to spin up that part of the tech business themselves. The fleet provision in the deal is also interesting, and suggests the partnership between the two could involve more strategic cooperative service offerings ahead of the advent of commercial self-driving tech. Lyft gaining more ground among automakers beyond longtime partner GM also explains why it was reported that the ride hailing company turned down overtures regarding a potential acquisition by the Detroit-based automaker.Written by Darrell Etherington for TechCrunch.Related Video:

Take a trip down Jaguar's memory lane with Xcar

For decades, Jaguar has been a company of two minds. On one hand, there are its luxurious, British saloon cars. They might be quick, even sporty, but when it comes down to it, they usually put a focus on comfort and accommodations above all. On the other hand, Jag has its sports cars to really get its buyers' blood pumping. Think about it: the XJ might look pretty sweet, but you know deep down that you would rather take the F-Type for a spirited drive, reveling in its snorty exhaust note. In its latest video, Xcar Films takes us on a very enjoyable history lesson covering some of the Brit brand's most exciting models ever.
Xcar hits all of the highlights, starting with the often-overlooked C-Type from early '50s with its somewhat bulbous shape. Things then progress to the drop-dead gorgeous D-Type. The one in this video is actually the first ever made and therefore worth a fortune. Because of that, the host isn't really able to get too aggressive, but it's fantastic to get an idea of what it's like to experience being behind the wheel of this icon. Finally, it ends with a Series 1 E-Type. This was when the classic model was still something of a sports car; instead of the grand tourer that the E-Type became in its later days.
All three of these cars are legends in their own right, and maybe one day the F-Type could be too. Scroll down for a history lesson on some of Jaguar's best sports cars.

2017 Jaguar F-Pace First Drive

We know what you're thinking, and we tend to agree: The world probably doesn't need another crossover. But premium European automakers keep building them because people keep buying them. Before we even got behind the wheel of the 2017 F-Pace, we knew that it would be Jaguar's best-selling model by year's end. Now that we've driven the brand's first crossover, it's apparent that there is more to the F-Pace than future sales success. This is a real Jaguar. It would have been easy for Jaguar to borrow a platform from corporate sibling Land Rover. Instead, Jaguar's engineers decided to chart their own course, starting with the aluminum underpinnings of the XE sedan. As it turns out, that was a brilliant decision. The F-Pace looks and drives like a proper Jaguar, but it has some surprises hiding under its shapely sheetmetal that make it the most practical vehicle the brand has ever offered. The F-Pace sports a familiar face, with a voluminous chrome-ringed grille flanked by twin air intakes that are almost as large. Long horizontal headlamps flow into the fenders, and just behind the front wheels sit additional vents that are the only extraneous bit of styling flair on the entire vehicle. The overall look is smooth and taut, with lots of surface tension along the car's bodysides. Not that Jaguar would have done it, but we're glad this is not an overwrought Lexus RX clone. The F-Pace's proportions emphasize the chassis' rear-drive roots, although Jaguar will only sell the crossover with all-wheel drive in the US. By default, 90 percent of engine torque is routed to the rear wheels, and that can drop to as little as 10 percent as dictated by available traction. While the good old KISS acronym applies to the car's styling, it applies equally well to the driving dynamics with one slight modification: keep it sporty, stupid. A rigid aluminum chassis – it would be all-aluminum if the rear floor weren't steel to ensure proper 50/50 weight distribution – is derived from the same architecture as the XE sedan, rejiggered to sit higher off the ground and allow for greater suspension travel. As you'd expect, the F-Pace drives a heck of a lot like a sport sedan, only giving up the illusion if you notice how high you're sitting from the road. Jaguar has nailed the driving dynamics of the F-Pace. Steering is linear and, in Dynamic mode, perfectly damped. The ride on models equipped with adaptive suspension is firm and controlled, even with massive 22-inch wheels fitted.