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Jaguar Land Rover mulling factory in Georgia?

London's Sunday Times reported last October that Jaguar-Land Rover was sniffing around The South looking for a potential manufacturing site, and was "talking to several southern states." We imagine Georgia was one of them; The Peach State has Kia Motors Manufacturing in West Point, it claims Porsche HQ as a resident, and soon the Mercedes-Benz regional office, too. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has said that Governor Nathan Deal recently took the initiative to fly to the UK to "make prospect calls" with JLR executives about a deal. We don't have any details about the calls, but we'll guess that they involved Deal making a financial case for GA over other states while sipping a cup of tea. It's said that the English luxury maker wants to build a factory here with a 200,000-unit capacity, to take advantage of the same financial efficiencies that have planted other automakers in the US and Mexico; it opened a facility in China last year to build the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport, and the Jaguar XE, and is casting eyes over Brazilian and Saudi Arabian soil for other facilities. No timetable has been given for a decision. Related Video: News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: AP Photo/Tony Ding Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Jaguar Land Rover Luxury

Jaguar Land Rover backs Arc startup that sells $100,000 electric motorcycles

Before it even put its first motorcycle on the road, new startup Arc reeled in a major player to back its ambitious product plan. In conjunction with the reveal of the fully electric Vector superbike at the Esposizione Internazionale Ciclo Motociclo e Accessori ( EICMA) show in Milan, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) announced it is placing capital in Arc, using JLR's investment company InMotion Ventures. Arc claims the Vector is the first all-electric motorcycle with integrated Human Machine Interface (HMI) to come to market. Arc, not to be confused with Keanu Reeve's Arch motorcycle company, has a pretty typical mission statement: "To use progressive design and technology to transform people's relationship with an automative experience. For us, for you, for our planet." At the core, Arc wants to make connected, clean, exclusive superbikes, and the Vector is its first try. Although Arc didn't get into the nitty gritty details about the make-up of the bike, it did give some surface specs and information. The bike's structure is built using a carbon composite to create a "unique Arc battery monocoque." Weight is also kept low using carbon fiber swing arms. There is no mention of the size or type of electric powertrain, but Arc claims it will have a highway range of about 120 miles or a city range of 170 miles on a single charge. Arc says it will be able to sprint from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 2.7 seconds and has a top speed of 124 mph. Stopping power comes from a Brembo brake system, while ride and handling relies on Ohlins dampers. The launch does not stop at the motorcycle, but includes gear, as well. The Vector links up with a jacket and a helmet for a fully connected experience. Partnering with U.K.-based impact protection design company Knox, Arc created the Arc Pilot System. Using audio, the armored Origin riding jacket provides haptic feedback based on numerous riding inputs to help keep the driver safe and aware. Furthermore, Arc linked up with luxury helmet maker Hedon to build the WiFi-connected Zenith helmet that houses an integrated projection heads-up display. In addition to showing things such as speed or battery life of the bike, the helmet uses a built-in rear camera to display other vehicles in the rider's blind spots. The rider can command the system using controls on the bike or via voice commands.

Jaguar I-Pace makes transition to production with hardly any changes

It looks like Jaguar designer Ian Callum wasn't kidding when he said the I-Pace concept was "a preview of a five-seat production car that will be on the road in 2018." Based on these spy photos, the production I-Pace will look darn near identical to the concept. The prototype seen above, in a unique and rather groovy green camouflage wrap, retains the swoopy cab-forward design of its concept predecessor. The headlights have the same shape and still sweep back nearly to the front wheel wells, and the door handles are still flush mounted ovals placed low on the doors. At the back, the crisp crease marking the trailing edge of the hatch is intact, as well as the triangular points on the rear spoiler. There have been a few minor changes here and there. At the front, the grille doesn't have quite as much depth as the concept, and the base of the front bumper doesn't have as aggressive an air dam. The big heat extractor vent in the hood is also gone. The rear bumper has also been rounded off a bit more with a simpler rear diffuser. The side glass is in production form, so now there are seams that show where the glass rolls down. It appears the rear doors will have quite a small glass opening, as the seam is roughly at the half-way point of the window. If the mechanicals of the concept end up as unchanged as this prototype's exterior, expect the production I-Pace to have a pair of electric motors that will produce 400 horsepower and 516 lb-ft of torque. Jaguar estimates these will propel the car to 60 mph in about 4 seconds. The motors will be supplied with power from a 90 kWh lithium-ion battery, which Jaguar says will provide a range of 220 miles. With a target date of 2018, we would expect to see the production model revealed at the end of 2017 or early in 2018. Related Video: