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Jaguar F-Type gets even more British with Design Edition

Short of maybe driving a Morgan while wearing tweed and smoking a pipe, automobiles don't come much more quintessentially British than a Jaguar. But now the F-Type is going to be even more so with the launch of the new British Design Edition. It's based on the six-cylinder F-Type S, but upgrades with a series of special touches to set it apart. Red, white, and blue are the dominant colors from which buyers will be able to choose both the exterior color and that of the interior contrast stitching. The leather interior comes in black, and those less patriotically inclined can spec the outside to match. The British Design Edition also features 20-inch wheels in dark gray satin finish, packing upgraded brakes with red calipers. The Design package comes standard with upgraded aero, as does the 12-speaker Meridian sound system. And naturally there are special insignia inside and out. Buyers will be able to choose between coupe or convertible and rear- or all-wheel drive, but either way motivation comes in the form of JLR's 3.0-liter supercharged V6, driving 380 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque through an eight-speed automatic transmission. Only 300 units will be coming to the United States, with prices starting at $92,100 (plus a $995 destination charge) – representing a substantial $14.8k premium over the $77,300 price of entry for an F-Type S Coupe. Spec one out with similar options and you'd be looking at $86,250, which makes the privilege (and resale value) of acquiring the limited edition a $5,850 proposition. Any way you cut it, though, the elbow patches cost extra.

BMW and Jaguar Land Rover to jointly develop electric car tech

FRANKFURT – BMW and Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday said they will jointly develop electric motors, transmissions and power electronics, unveiling yet another industry alliance designed to lower the costs of developing electric cars. Both carmakers are under pressure to roll out zero-emission vehicles to meet stringent anti-pollution rules, but have struggled to maintain profit margins faced with the rising costs of making electric, connected and autonomous cars. "Together, we have the opportunity to cater more effectively for customer needs by shortening development time and bringing vehicles and state-of-the-art technologies more rapidly to market," said BMW board member Klaus Froehlich. BMW and Jaguar Land Rover said they will save costs through shared development, production planning and joint purchasing of electric car components. Both companies will produce electric drivetrains in their own manufacturing facilities, BMW said. The BMW Jaguar Land Rover pact comes as rivals FiatChrysler and Renault explore a $35 billion tie-up of the Italian-American and French carmaking groups. Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover's engineering director said, "We've proven we can build world beating electric cars but now we need to scale the technology to support the next generation of Jaguar and Land Rover products." BMW was in talks with rival Daimler about developing electric car components but was also in discussions with Jaguar Land Rover, a company it once owned, to explore an alliance on engines. BMW already has a deal to supply an 8 cylinder engine to Jaguar Land Rover. Carmakers are increasingly open to sharing electric car parts because the technology is expensive and because customers no longer buy a car based on what engine a vehicle has. "Carmakers are much less precious about sharing electric car technology because it is much harder to create product differentiation with electric car tech. They all accelerate fast, and everybody can do quality and ride and handling," according to Carl-Peter Forster a former chief executive of Tata Motors and a former BMW executive. Jaguar Land Rover is still run by former BMW managers, including Ralf Speth the company's chief executive who spent 20 years at BMW prior to joining JLR, and Wolfgang Ziebart, the engineer who oversaw Jaguar's I-Pace electric car program, who is a former head of research and development at BMW.

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.