2005 Land Rover Lr3 Se Sport Utility 4-door 4.4l on 2040-cars

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Jaguar Land Rover to drop supercharged V8 for turbocharged BMW power

There are few things that sound as good as Jaguar's 5.0 liter supercharged V8. As great as it is when the supercharger whines or the exhaust cracks and pops on throttle lift-off as the air pressure equalizes, the basic design dates back to the '90s. Plainly, the engine isn't as efficient as it needs to be, but designing a new V8 from the ground up is an expensive proposition. Instead, Automobile reports that Jaguar Land Rover is set to use a twin-turbocharged V8s supplied by BMW. Scalable architecture is all the rage as automakers streamline designs in order to save costs. For example, Jaguar's current supercharged V6 is quite literally a V8 with two holes missing. They didn't even change the length of the block. It seems both of those designs are on their way out, with the V6 being replaced by a inline-six closely related to the company's inline four. It seems that rather than designing an new and expensive V8 for their top of the line models JLR, is sourcing from BMW. From 1994 to 2000, BMW owned Land Rover. A few models, including the Land Rover Range Rover, used BMW engines then and in the initial years of Ford's JLR stewardship. It seems things have now come full circle. BMW currently makes a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 that produces anywhere from 440 to 600 horsepower, depending on the application. Automobile says that a new 4.0 liter V8 is in the works and that it will most likely be the engine that JLR uses. Expect it to be more powerful, more fuel efficient, and lighter than what both BMW and JLR currently offer. This seems like a win for both companies. BMW gets to offset the cost of a new motor while JLR, a smaller company, doesn't have to invest in a whole new architecture. As automakers search for ways to cut costs, expect collaborations like this to continue. Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz both share a four-cylinder engine. Ford and GM have worked together to design a shared 10-speed automatic. While we may lament the loss of that wonderful Jaguar Land Rover engine, we can still be happy that they haven't abandoned the V8. Related Video: News Source: Automobile Rumormill BMW Jaguar Land Rover

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

BMW tops Consumer Reports 2023 Brand Report Card

Feels like we wrote about Consumer Reports' 2022 Brand Report Car and 10 Top Picks a few weeks ago, but it was last April. So the mag is back with a ranked roster of 32 brands and 10 vehicles in four categories for your debating pleasure. Starting with the brands, last year's top three were Subaru, Mazda and BMW. This year, the Munich crew climbed two spots to win the prize thanks to "Superb road test scores and solid results in CR’s reliability and owner satisfaction surveys." Subaru narrowly fell to second, maintaining its four-year run in the top three. Mini, eighth last year, jumped five spots to get the last step on the podium. The rest of the top 10 were Lexus (up one spot from last year), Honda (down one spot from last year), Toyota (up three), Genesis (up 12), Mazda (down six), Audi (down three) and Kia (up eight). The magazine and testing outfit says its Brand Report Card "[reveals] which automakers are producing the most well-performing, safe, and reliable vehicles based on CRÂ’s independent testing and member surveys," and that "Brands that rise to the top tend to have the most consistent performance across their model lineups." Last year's top 10 had six automakers from Japan, three from Germany (giving Mini credit for England), none from the U.S. or South Korea, and five luxury brands. This year's list counts five makes from Japan, two from Germany because Porsche fell out of the top ten, two from South Korea, still none from the U.S., and four luxury brands. Buick again ranked as the best domestic, dropping to 12th after being 11th last year. The big mover was Lincoln, its 10-place jump up to 16th attributed to better reliability from the Corsair and Nautilus. Tesla's improved overall reliability saw it climb six spots to 17th. Dodge climbed one spot to 15th. Jeep got out of the penalty box in last to come second-to-last. Land Rover fell three places into the penalty spot.  CR's top 10 vehicle models The 10 Top Picks list is practically a new list. Only two holdovers made it to 2023, those being the Subaru Forester and Kia Telluride.