Jaguar

It's clear from the styling of the XF and XJ saloons that design chief Ian Callum has been developing and evolving a new design vocabulary for Jaguar that, while it may make an occasional nod to the marque's enviable heritage, looks decisively towards the future. Whilst the two saloons have been well received in terms of value, technology and comfort, there's been a nagging doubt about the coherence of their design. They are not "good-looking" cars. In addition the whole range, including the bonkers-fast and sporty XK, is still seen as older person's transportation. Well, no more. This week Jaguar has delivered a stunning and beautiful "pure" sports car concept that aims to give the mighty Porsche 911 a run for its money. Read More

It's not often that a car has its first public showing nearly fifty years after it was built, but that's what happened at the recent Cholmondely Pageant of power when the newly-restored, one and only factory-built Low Drag Lightweight Jaguar E-Type was seen. The original crashed at very high speed testing at Montlhéry and was so badly damaged that it sat for 47 years before a complete restoration involving 7,000 hours of work and 90 per cent original parts yielded its magnificent original state. Great gallery showing the many moods of this priceless specimen of Jaguar DNA. Read More

Taking in the sights of a foreign land by car isn't a new approach to tourism, but this variation on the theme provides an extra injection of speed – supercar speed. The "Elite Car and Castle Tour" merges old world British castles with high adrenaline track days and luxury driving in 15 of the hottest cars in the world including the Aston Martin DB9 Volante and V12 Vantage, Audi R8, Bentley GT Convertible, Ferrari 430 F1 Spider and California, Jaguar XF, Porsche 997 Turbo PDK, Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder and Maserati Quattroporte. Read More

There is no greater accolade than to be judged the finest by your peers. This year the car design fraternity has delivered an overwhelming verdict for the concept design of the year to the Pininfarina – 40% of all the voters (all car designers) voted for the Pininfarina 2uettottanta ahead of some quite outstanding competition in the form of the Jaguar C-X75 and Renault DeZir. The Car Design of the Year 2010 Production category gong went to Range Rover's Evoque ahead of the Alfa Romeo Giulietta and Audi A7. Read More

Total production of the Mazda MX-5 sports car reached 900,000 units today at Mazda's Hiroshima plant in Japan. The milestone was achieved 21 years and 10 months after mass production of the first-generation MX-5 commenced in April 1989 and further extends the Mazda MX-5's lead as the best selling two-seater sports car of all time. Indeed, the MX-5 took that title from the MGB (1962-80) in May 2000 when production reached 514,853 units to exceed the iconic British sportster. Second place on the list is now held by Porsche's 911 series (1964-present and pictured) which has sold over 700,000. It's also fifty years this year since Jaguar launched the first affordable super sports two-seater, the E-Type (pictured), but more on that shortly. Read More

Ask someone in the street to name an electric vehicle right now and top-of-mind brands would probably include Tesla, Chevrolet Volt and Mitsubishi’s iMiev. Twelve months from now, there may be another name amongst that list you’ve not yet heard. Tata is best known for its US$2500 Tata Nano and recent acquisition of Jaguar and Range Rover but another of its wares appears set to make a huge impact in the EV field. The Tata Indica Vista EV hits the market early in 2011, carries four people, has excellent performance and can run 150 miles on a charge. Most importantly, the EV is based on a best-selling, mass-market car from the Indian market where it sells for less than US$9000 and its performance in the recent Future Car Challenge verifies its extreme energy efficiency. Read More

Like Peugeot, which has unveiled its EX1 concept electric vehicle as part of the company’s 200th anniversary celebrations, Jaguar is celebrating its 75 years with an equally, if not even more, stunning concept electric supercar. Unveiled today at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, the C-X75 boasts some impressive performance stats that prove this is no mere show pony. Powered by four 145kW electric motors – one on each wheel – producing 780bhp and a total torque output of 1600Nm (1180lb ft), the C-X75 can accelerate from 0-100km/h (62mph) in just 3.4 seconds, and from 80-145km/h (50-90mph) in 2.3 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 330km/h (205mph). Read More

China’s meteoric rise to become the center of the world’s automotive industry was well documented last week in our article and video on SAIC’s YEZ Concept car. This week another Chinese manufacturer is making global headlines by buying Volvo Automobiles. Unlike Government-owned SAIC, Volvo’s purchaser Zhejiang Geely is a public company controlled by Li Shufu (top left) a self-made 47 year-old billionaire who is being heralded as China’s Henry Ford. Geely’s ambition knows no bounds – it already plans to produce the world’s cheapest car (the tiny gullwing at top right), has a range of green drive trains ready for market including full electric and parallel and serial hybrids, has plans to produce a serious sports cars (bottom right) and now the first fully-owned Chinese prestige auto brand looks set to grab a fat slice of the Government fleet which makes up 8% of China’s auto market. Read More

Williams F1 has increased its existing 40% shareholding in Williams Hybrid Power (WHP) to 78% on the back of some very favorable results on the racetrack in conjunction with Porsche and ever growing confidence that the company's magnetically loaded composite flywheel (MLC) technology will find wide application in hybrid passenger vehicles, hybrid buses, electric trains, diesel-electric ships and wind power generation. Read More