1996 Jaguar Xj6 Sedan 4-door 4.0l on 2040-cars

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European automakers gear up for Brazilian production

Brazil is the place to be, apparently. Toyota has been investing in the South American country, as has BMW, which announced a $261 million investment in October 2012, on the heels of an Audi factory announcement in San José Chiapa. The high-end immigration is only set to continue, as Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar-Land Rover have both announced plans to set up manufacturing operations there.
Mercedes is the big news here, as its new facility will see the German manufacturer invest 170-million euros for production of its next-generation C-Class and upcoming GLA-Class. "Brazil is an important future market. With our local production we accept the challenge and take on the competition," noted Andreas Renschler, Management Board member for Production and Procurement at Mercedes-Benz Cars and Mercedes-Benz Vans. Production is expected to begin by 2016.
Jaguar-Land Rover, meanwhile, isn't so concrete in its plans. The news of its investment in South America comes from a job posting for a plant quality manager in Brazil that was picked up by the UK's AutoCar. "Portuguese language skills will be definite advantage" for interested candidates, according to the job listing. The want ad follows on the heels of remarks by Jaguar Land Rover's Dr. Ralph Speth, who said there are "very intensive discussions" with Brazil's government. Unlike Mercedes, there's no mention of which vehicles will be produced in South America, although AutoCar thinks the Freelander, sold in the US as the LR2, is a leading contender.

Jaguar F-Type Project 7 arrives Stateside for $135k*

There are a great many things we love about the Jaguar F-Type, but one of them is that, whatever price point you're looking at, there's an F-Type for you. (Well, not any price point... this is a Jag we're talking about, but pricing varies greatly.) Got $65k to spend? That'll get you into a base F-Type V6 coupe, and you'll likely be happy for it. Eighty grand will get you into an F-Type V6 S, $90k into a V8 S roadster, and a cool hundred grand will get you the top-of-the-line F-Type R coupe. But what if you want to spend more than that? What if you've got more like $165,000 in your pocket and it's burning a hole when it should be burning rubber?
Well we've got good news for you, friend, because that's exactly how much the exclusive F-Type Project 7 will set you back. Making its US debut during Monterey car week, Jaguar has announced that the most exclusive version of its two-seat sports car - revealed in production spec just recently at the Goodwood Festival of Speed - will cost $165k in the US (plus the standard $925 delivery charge). That's roughly the price of an F-Type R and a base F-Type V6.
For all that scratch, you get an open-top roadster with 575 horsepower on tap - more than any production road car Jaguar has ever made before, and that includes the XJ220 and ultra-rare XJR-15 supercars. The most potent version yet of Jaguar's ubiquitous and long-serving 5.0-liter supercharged V8 is enough to send Project 7 to 60 in 3.8 seconds and on to an electronically limited top speed of 186 miles per hour.

Goodbye, Shelby GT350; hello, new Honda Ridgeline and Subaru BRZ | Autoblog Podcast #648

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Road Test Editor Zac Palmer. This week's news includes Subaru teasing the next-generation Subaru BRZ, the Jaguar XE departing and the XF getting an update, Honda unveiling the new Ridgeline pickup and the Acura NSX suffering from slow sales. This week they talk about driving two vehicles on opposite ends of the spectrum: the Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 and the Volkswagen Atlas. Autoblog Podcast #648 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Subaru previews next-generation BRZ, announces fall 2020 unveiling date Jaguar XE axed from U.S. market: And then there was one sedan 2021 Jaguar XF gets new interior, down to four-cylinder engines and sedan body style 2021 Honda Ridgeline debuts, and it finally looks like a truck Acura NSX sales lagging Cars we're driving: 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350 Heritage Edition 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: