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Jaguar Land Rover likely to build US plant... in three years

Jaguar Land Rover may very well open a plant in the United States, but the latest word has it that it'll be another three years or so before the company even makes a decision on the matter. The prospect first came up on our radar back in October when we reported that JLR was considering building a plant in the South. Georgia governor Nathan Deal even flew to the UK to solicit JLR's business. Former parent-company chairman Ratan Tata subsequently confirmed the idea was under consideration last month. And now the British automaker's CEO has told Automotive News that JLR will need a US assembly plant to fuel its growth in the vital North American market, but that'll it'll take a while to get going. The reasons for the delay, according to chief executive Ralf Speth, are threefold. For one thing, the automaker has its hands full at the moment opening plants in other locations: last year it opened one in China and this year it opened one in Brazil. It also recently opened a new SVO facility, an electric-propulsion R&D center and a new engine plant all in the UK, and can only handle building so many new facilities at a time. JLR will also need US suppliers of aluminum components to step up their game, as the company relies heavily on aluminum construction for their vehicles. US automakers shifting to aluminum for models like the new Ford F-150 will encourage American suppliers to get into the game, but it may be a while before they're up to Jaguar Land Rover standards. Finally, JLR will need to increase its sales potential in the US in order to justify local production. Speth says the company would need one model of which it could sell 30,000 to 40,000 units in the US alone, and it sold less than 18,000 units of its best-selling the Range Rover Sport here last year. In fact the entire Jaguar brand sold less than 16,000 units throughout all of last year in America, with Land Rover selling far more at over 50,000 units to contribute to total sales of over 67,000 units. Related Video: Featured Gallery Jaguar Land Rover Engine Manufacturing Center View 16 Photos News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: Jaguar Land Rover Plants/Manufacturing Jaguar Land Rover jaguar land rover jlr

Jaguar XJ220 leaps into Jay Leno's Garage

Having sadly canceled the C-X75 project and sat out today's hybrid hypercar race, it would be all too easy to forget about Jaguar as a supercar manufacturer altogether. But back in the early '90s, the British automaker didn't just play in the supercar game – it dominated it. The XJ220 was, for a time, the fastest car in the world. Jay Leno pays tribute in this latest video. Originally envisioned with a V12 engine and all-wheel drive, the XJ220 ultimately surfaced with a 3.5-liter twin-turbo V6 driving the rear wheels alone. None of that kept it from eclipsing the top speed achieved by every supercar that came before with a terminal velocity that didn't quite reach the 220 miles per hour initially promised, but came pretty darn close. The disappointment in the change of specification lead some to dismiss the XJ220 as a failure, but it was still the fastest thing on the road until another British supercar (in the form of the McLaren F1) took its place at the pinnacle of automotive bragging rights. Two decades later, Jaguar quite nearly drove down the same road when its initial plans for the C-X75 changed from an experimental turbine powertrain to a multi-charged inline-four. Only this time the Leaping Cat marque didn't put it into production at all, save for a few prototypes and movie props – which is a bit of a shame, and then some. Watching Jay speed down memory lane in the supercar that almost never was, we're glad that Jaguar still built the XJ220, and saddened that it never followed up with another groundbreaking supercar today. Related Video:

Jaguar laying groundwork for a reborn XK

There have been rumors about plans to replace the Jaguar XK since before the gentleman's coupe ended production in 2014. Depending on which rumor you read, a reborn XK could remain compact and offer a 3.0-liter turbodiesel, grow a bit and move upmarket to challenge the Mercedes S-Class Coupe, or grow even more and challenge the Bentley Continental GT as "an elegant four-seater coupe." About the only three consistent details have been that the new XK would ride on a reworked F-Type platform, that the XK would become Jaguar's new flagship, and brand design director Ian Callum providing all the quotes about a potential resurrection. Now Hanno Kirner, the head of product strategy at Jaguar Land Rover, has added quotes that could portend the return of the big two-door cat. Kirner told Autocar that Jaguar "will continue to invest in sports cars," and that "I use the plural quite deliberately." That is, the F-Type won't be left to carry the sports car mantle by itself. Questions remain about the definition of the term "sports car," and whether that really means a return of the XK. Kirner suggested it's possible that a future offering could be "a body variant" of the F-Type. Callum's been fighting for the XK's return ever since Jaguar made the decision to kill it. The designer said the two-seat F-Type wasn't intended to kill the bigger 2+2, and at one point his team had already finished design work on the third-generation XK. However, the F-Type sold so well that the company marketers decided the automaker didn't need both cars. A number of things needs to happen before any XK gets the green light, though. The next-gen F-Type is in the works and could come as soon as next year, and Jaguar will want to make sure the two-seater continues its run of steady sales. The XK spirit lives on in the current F-Type, since the F-Type sits on a reworked version of the XK's aluminum architecture, and the second-generation F-Type will evolve that aluminum platform again. It's said that the platform could morph back into a 2+2 without undue hassle, but any new XK wouldn't likely arrive before 2021 even if approved. Callum remains on the case, saying in October 2017, "I want a two-seater [the F-Type] and a 2+2. We're working on something now." Related Video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.