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Second 'No Time To Die' trailer drops with lots of crunching metal

The second trailer for the new James Bond film, "No Time To Die," was posted to social media Thursday morning, getting us thoroughly hyped for the forthcoming installment thanks to some spicy car content and lots of other ridiculous, big-budget action sequences.  Fair warning for the purists: This might contain plot- and character-related information from the trailer itself. Also, it appears that many Land Rover Defenders died in the making of this film, so the footage may not be for the faint of heart; don't say we didn't give you advance notice.  As is typical of Bond films, most of the automotive eye candy is of the European variety. The classic Aston Martin DB5 gadget car (which we saw doing some crazy machine-gun donuts in the first trailer) makes yet another appearance, as does what appears to be fourth-generation Maserati Quattroporte. There's even something which might be a car, but also appears to be both some sort of airplane and submersible. Never change, Bond. We love it.  And then there are the Defenders. We've got Defenders speeding down hillsides, Defenders crashing through forests, Defenders flying over Land Cruisers. Yeah, do you like Land Cruisers? There's a Land Cruiser. It even (spoiler alert!) survives relatively unscathed; the same cannot be said for most of the automotive shenanigans we get to see here.  "No Time To Die" was originally slated to debut back in April, but its original release date roughly coincided with the projected peak of early coronavirus infections. Given how important the Bond film franchise's continued success is to MGM (it's virtually the only thing the studio has had going for it for 30 years) and the producers (who only make Bond films), meager box office returns were not an option. The last film, Spectre, pulled in the worldwide gross of $880 million, including $200 million in the United States and $83.5 million in China. The wait is almost over. "No Time to Die" will hit theaters Nov. 25 in the United States.  Related Video:

Jaguar Land Rover posts profitable quarter amidst big yearly losses

Jaguar has posted its first profit in quite some time, as the financial quarter ending on March 31 brought in a net income of $151.6 million. However, that is the light in the end of the tunnel, as full year results through March showed a $4.58 billion loss (GBP3.6 billion). The losses are again attributable to declining sales in China, with a whiff of the still-lingering Brexit process. While JLR's annual U.S. sales were up 8.1 percent, and U.K. sales improved by 8.4%, overall sales came down 5.8% to 578,915 vehicles. For April, Chinese sales nearly halved as they dropped by 46 percent. Earlier this year, JLR's woes caused its owner Tata Motors to post the biggest ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history, at nearly $4 billion. JLR's CEO Ralf Speth stated that the company is "reducing complexity" and transforming its business by cost savings and cash flow improvements, citing the fourth-quarter profits as an example of the ongoing turnaround. Speth said JLR has already managed to deliver $1.59 billion (GBP1.25 billion) of efficiencies and savings. JLR says its turnaround program, dubbed Charge, will drive it to at least $3.18 billion (GBP2.5 billion) of investment, working capital and profit improvements by March 2020, and that it currently has $4.84 billion (GBP3.8 billion) of cash. Speth continued that JLR will "go forward as a transformed company that's leaner and fitter," and that the sustained investment in new products and technologies will drive future demand. There has been earlier speculation of Tata Motors selling JLR to the PSA Group, but as Autocar reports, Tata's financial chief again refuted these rumors. JLR also announced today that its CFO of 11 years, Ken Gregor is stepping down after 22 years with the company, and that he will be succeeded by JLR's Chief Transformation Officer, Adrian Mardell.

Jaguar wants to become the British electric company

Jaguar has been telegraphing its electric future for years, and this week we're beginning to see it come to fruition. The company's Formula E race team officially launched September 8 with sponsorship, livery, and an interesting name for its racecar, the I-Type 1. It marks Jaguar's return to factory-supported racing and serves as a model for the company's future strategy. "The Formula E championship will enable us to engineer and test our advanced technologies under extreme performance conditions," Nick Rogers, executive director of product engineering at Jaguar Land Rover, said in a statement. "We will apply this vital knowledge as part of our real-world development." Formula E competition starts October 9 as the all-electric racing series begins its third season. Panasonic signed on as the title sponsor of the team. Formula E is a natural move for Jag and allows the British company to remain true to its racing heritage while still looking toward. The company claims seven Le Mans titles, which is the fourth-most in history, even though it hasn't won one since 1990. That's a great lineage, but Jaguar knows it's getting dusty. Launching a Formula E effort allows it to compete in a form of motorsports that should prove relevant to road-car technology. Jag is drawing on Williams Advanced Engineering (you might have heard of its F1 team) for the electric powertrain. Williams also helped with the development of Jaguar's C-X75 plug-in concept car. Meanwhile, we also captured an F-Pace crossover silently testing this week in the Alps. Though it looks like a normal F-Pace, spy shooters report it was producing no engine noise, leading (or perhaps leaping) to the conclusion it's the rumored electric SUV Jaguar is working on. Likely, this prototype has a diesel engine as a range extender. View 11 Photos Though the camouflaged F-Pace is great fodder for speculation, Jag's electric efforts are not a secret. Jaguar and Land Rover showed off three electric-vehicle demonstrators last year and the company is exploring everything from mild hybrids to full electric powertrains. JLR has filed paperwork to secure trademarks for I-Pace and E-Pace. "JLR is definitely rushing headfirst into electrification," said Ed Kim, vice president of industry analysis for research firm AutoPacific.