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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 C-X17 gets liquid metal finish for Dubai show [w/poll]

We thought the C-X17 concept looked pretty good when Jaguar unveiled it in Frankfurt a couple of months ago. But that shade of blue, while nice enough, made it look like it shared more than a similar name with the Mazda CX-7. No, what a Jaguar needs is a more luxurious paint job than electric blue. And that's just what the British automaker has given its crossover concept in time for the Dubai Motor Show this week.
What we have here is the same C-X17, but repainted in what Jaguar calls "a lustrous Liquid Aluminum liquid metal finish," and we have but to agree. What do you think? Scope it out in the fresh batch of high-res images above and cast your vote in the poll below.
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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: