Jaguar

September 24, 2009

Land Rover Says Smallest, Most Fuel-Efficient Range Rover Will Enter Production

Land Rover announced today that a production version of its Range Rover LRX Concept SUV (pictured) will be built, with sales to begin in 2011.

Designed and engineered at Land Rover's Gaydon facility, the new Range Rover will be the smallest, lightest and most fuel-efficient vehicle the company has ever produced.

The three-door SUV will be built in Halewood, near Liverpool, England, subject to quality and productivity agreements, and will be sold in more than 100 countries around the world, the company said in a statement.

In an interview with Edmunds.com's Michelle Krebs this morning, Jaguar Land Rover spokesman Stuart Schorr said the LRX will be the first of four new segment offerings from the company, with Jaguar and Land Rover to receive two each.

He stressed the four will be premium brands, meaning they won't come cheap. Schorr also said that Jaguar Land Rover is committed to hybrids and electrics, but he refused to provide further details.

The LRX Concept debuted at the Detroit Auto Show last year and featured a 2.0-liter diesel-hybrid powertrain, which when running on biodiesel achieved a claimed fuel economy of 60 miles per gallon.

Jaguar or Land Rover Plant to Close

In a related development, India's Tata Motors Ltd. said today it will close one of the three Jaguar Land Rover assembly plants in England by 2014 in a bid to move its money-losing British unit into profitability.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett September 24, 2009, 9:27 AM
Categories:: Auto Shows, Biofuels, Diesel, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Jaguar, Land Rover, Plug-ins and Electric, Range Rover
Technorati Tags:: Detroit Auto Show

July 31, 2009

Tata: Future Jaguar Land Rovers to Feature Fuel-Efficient Aluminum Construction

Tatas-owned Jaguar Land Rover will eventually make all of its models with lightweight aluminum bodies to save on gas and reduce climate-changing CO2 emissions.

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Right, an aluminum-body 2010 Jaguar XJ.
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So said Tata Motors Chairman Rata Tata earlier this week, adding that the two iconic brands are also developing hybrid engines for use in future JLR models.

Jaguar has been touting the aluminum-intensive construction of its XJ sedan since the previous-generation model was introduced back in 2003.

The automaker claims that use of aluminum in lieu of steel can result in a 40 percent reduction in weight.

In addition to improvements in fuel economy and emissions, that degree of weight reduction should also improve acceleration and handling.

In line with its newfound appreciation for lightweight cars, Jaguar Land Rover is experimenting with hybrid powertrains.

A kinetic energy recovery system may be in the cards for the XJ line in 2011, while Land Rover has been working on an Electric Rear Axle Drive that could debut in the upcoming LRX compact Range Rover.

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); Scott Doggett July 31, 2009, 2:33 PM
Categories:: Emissions, Fuel Economy, Hybrid, Jaguar, Plug-ins and Electric
Technorati Tags:: Aluminum

April 13, 2009

Jaguar Reportedly Planning Extended-Range Electric XJ Sedan for 2011

We know that the norm in the car world is for expensive new technologies to come out first on high-dollar models and then work their way down the food chain until they get into our price range, but we wish someone would work on an extended range plug-in hybrid that we could seriously consider for the personal fleet.

One thing we now know is that it's not going to come from India's Tata Motors, at least not right away.

Instead, Tata, which owns Jaguar and Land Rover, reportedly is planning to launch an extended-range hybrid version of the luxo-boat Jaguar XJ (above) in 2011, about a year after the next generation of the car comes out.

If the report is accurate, the XJ E-REV would likely compete with the $80,000 Fisker Karma extended-range electric sport sedan.

Britain's AutoCar magazine reports that the four-door, long-wheelbase Jag will use an all-electric drive system, with power coming first from a rechargeable lithium-ion battery pack and then, when the charge is depleted, from power generated by a small internal combustion engine that will serve as a generator (can you say Chevy Volt?).

Jaguar is hoping for 30 miles of "pure" electric range before the gas engine/generator kicks in, and overall fuel economy of nearly 50 miles a gallon, with a top speed of 112 miles an hour (those are all U.S. figures, translated from the British).

Posted by: Permalink | Comments (0); John O'Dell April 13, 2009, 3:56 PM
Categories:: Jaguar, Land Rover, Plug-ins and Electric, Tata
Technorati Tags:: Jaguar

July 30, 2008

Volkswagen Overtakes Ford as No. 3 Automaker Worldwide

Ford Motor Co. started taking large steps away from gas guzzlers and toward a fuel-efficient lineup earlier this month, but the efforts came too late to prevent Volkswagen from overtaking it for the No. 3 spot among automakers by global sales volume.

The change reflects sales figures the two automakers recently provided for the first half of this year. If sales trends hold true through the remainder of this year, the new world order among automotive giants will be Toyota in the No. 1 position, followed by General Motors, Volkswagen and Ford, respectively.

Toyota led GM at the half by about 278,000 vehicles, while VW saw a global sales increase of 7.2 percent to 3.31 million vehicles and Ford watched its sales fall 11 percent to 3.09 million vehicles.

Ford, which has been exceedingly slow to respond to the growing demand for fuel-efficient vehicles, ceded the No. 2 spot to Toyota in 2003.

Exacerbating the situation for Ford is the recent sale of Jaguar and Land Rover to Tata Motors. The two brands no longer contribute to Ford's overall sales tally. But with sales of the British luxury brands under 300,000 vehicles a year, they would not have contributed enough to enable Ford to retain its position among automakers.

Scott Doggett, Contributor