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Jaguar Land Rover building new R&D center for hybrids, EVs, autonomous cars

The success of Jaguar Land Rover in recent years has largely been down to a resurgent product lineup, but a recent move into the research and development will see the British-based, Indian-owned brands take the fight to its German rivals more aggressively than ever before.
JLR is investing 50 million pounds ($80,345,000, as of this writing) in a joint R&D center in central England. The move will more than triple its staff dedicated to research, from 150 to 500, with Wolfgang Epple, JLR's Director of Research and Technology telling Automotive News Europe, "In order to play among the big animals in automotive and to be anchored in the mind of customers you have to have offered something unique, to be first in market. We want to be one of the key premier automotive manufacturers."
Jaguar Land Rover's 50-million-pound contribution represents more than half of the 94-million-pound tab, on the so-called National Automotive Innovation Campus. Based at Warwick University, Tata's European Technical Center, Warwick Manufacturing Group and the Higher Education Funding Council, an agency of the British government, are all chipping in for the facility.

David Brown Speedback GT marks US debut at The Quail

The British invasion has officially deployed another expeditionary force to these American shores with the arrival of the David Brown Speedback GT. The classically styled English grand tourer debuted nearly a year and a half ago, and has been racking up orders from discerning customers in the UK and across continental Europe. As promised, it has now made its American debut at the swanky Monterey event known as The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering. The Speedback GT is a coachbuilt grand touring coupe made by British startup David Brown Automotive. It's based on a Jaguar XKR, but reskinned inside and out to give it the look and feel of a classic Aston Martin – little wonder given the name it shares with the former Aston chief whose initials still adorn the DB model line. Underneath the retro bodywork lies Jaguar's celebrated 5.0-titer supercharged V8, giving the Speedback thoroughly modern levels of muscle with 510 horsepower and 461 pound-feet of torque. The resulting 0-60 time of 4.6 seconds and top speed of 155 miles per hour are suitably quick – not quite time-warping, but the performance is certainly nowhere near as old-school as the design would lead you to believe. Call it the best of both worlds, then, if you dig the styling. But don't expect everyone to be jumping on this particular gentlemanly bandwagon. At nearly half a million pounds sterling – over $750k at current exchange rates – it's sure to keep out the riffraff of which "the rest of us" are most certainly part. Featured Gallery David Brown Speedback GT: Monterey 2015 View 14 Photos Image Credit: Copyright 2015 Drew Phillips / AOL Misc. Auto Shows Jaguar Coupe Luxury Pebble Beach david brown automotive

UK car output falls 14% in March, may get worse with no-deal Brexit

LONDON — British car output fell for the 10th month in a row in March, hit by a slowdown in key foreign markets, and the sector stands to suffer a lot more if the country leaves the European Union without a deal, an industry body said on Tuesday. Output tumbled by an annual 14.4 percent to 126,195 cars in March, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said. Exports, which account for nearly four out of every five cars made in Britain, were down by 13.4 percent. The SMMT said analysis it had commissioned predicted output would fall this year to 1.36 million units from 1.52 million in 2018, assuming London can secure a transition deal with the EU. If Britain has to rely instead on World Trade Organization rules for its trade with the bloc, which include import tariffs, output is forecast to fall by around 30 percent to 1.07 million units in 2021, returning to mid-1980s levels, the SMMT said. The forecasts were produced for SMMT by AutoAnalysis, a consultancy. Prime Minister Theresa May has secured a delay to the Brexit deadline until Oct. 31, giving her more time to try to break an impasse in parliament over the terms of Britain's departure from the EU. Foreign minister Jeremy Hunt traveled to Japan earlier this month to try to persuade the Japanese government and Toyota, which has a big presence in Britain, that London was determined to avoid a no-deal Brexit. "Just a few years ago, industry was on track to produce 2 million cars by 2020 — a target now impossible with Britain's reputation as stable and attractive business environment undermined," SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said. "All parties must find a compromise urgently so we can set about repairing the damage and diverting energy and investment to the technological challenges that will define the future of the global industry." (Reporting by William Schomberg, editing by David Milliken)