Month: September 2011

Niche British vehicle manufacturer Caterham Cars has established a new standalone engineering company that plans to produce a range of affordable sports cars. Caterham Technology and Innovation (CTI) will be responsible for the development of the completely new line of accessible sports cars that will be inspired by the same lightweight and minimalist philosophies that drive the famous Caterham Seven. CTI will draw on the advanced technologies and materials developed by the group’s Team Lotus Formula One and Caterham Team AirAsia GP2 motorsport operations. CTI CEO, Mark Edwards, said the new company boasted a world-class team of vehicle engineers committed to building on the Caterham ethos. “The new shareholders are committed to investing in an exciting range of global products over the next 10 years,” Mr Edwards said. “Tony Fernandes [the owner of Caterham Cars] has been very clear from […]

Despite its unprecedented success and staggering popularity the world over, Apple’s iPhone is no longer Britain’s coolest brand, having been knocked off the top spot of the ‘Cool Brands index’ by Aston Martin. The influential survey is made up of 2,000 consumers and a panel of 35 designers, style magazine editors, and website executives, who have deemed Aston Martin vehicles as Britain’s most desirable product — pushing the iPhone into second place. The desire to own an Aston Martin vehicle is believed to have been fueled by James Bond, who can be seen driving a whole host of the company’s vehicles in the films. Despite being nearly 100 years old, the car manufacturer still maintains its appeal, according to the survey, while cutting edge technology — such as the iPhone — struggles to keep up. For the full story, read […]

This weekend the Saturday night around Silverstone will be filled with the varied engine noises of some 50 cars during the middle portion of the 2011 running of Britain’s most grueling race. The Britcar 24 Hours is Britain’s only true 24 hour challenge and this year is fittingly run on the Arena circuit, the latest iteration of the home of the British Grand Prix. The challenge of the 3.66 mile circuit is compounded by the endurance test of men and machine and the time of year. Just like the twice-around-the-clock event at Daytona in January, and very unlike the French midsummer benchmark for 24 Hours as much as half the race is run under the cover of darkness, with little or no artificial light around the track. Thankfully, for anyone who has braved previous editions the vagaries of the British weather appear to have […]

Official representation of MG cars has already opened in Azerbaijan. Sales manager of MG (Morris Garage) Motors Azerbaijan Ali Ahadov has said that an official representation of MG cars has already opened in Azerbaijan and new models have already been put on sale. ‘As an official representative of MG cars in our country, our key aims is to present MG cars, which is new in our market while it has quite long history in world and European markets, to our customers. High-quality interior materials, modern design and a number of innovative indicators catch the eye,’ Ahadov added. The sales manager said these cars are excelled for their comfort.

The Dakar Rally is a 14 day off road race that goes for over 5,500 miles with hundreds in competition. Three cars crafted by RaBe Race Cars will be driven by the British Rally Raid Team, made up of drivers Andrew Colley, John Hardy, and Martin Rowe. The unique vehicles the team will be driving are a mix of the all-new Range Rover Evoque body, powered by a BMW 3.0-liter turbocharged inline six diesel engine. This motor puts out 275-hp at 479 lb-ft of torque, and is paired with a ZF 6-speed transmission. David Jones is the British Rally Raid Team’s business manager, who comments “We’ve been working on this project for a long time. We were approached by a manufacturer, RaBE Race Cars, whose staff has been around the sport for a long time. Seeing our professional approach, they asked […]

A new version of the Jensen Interceptor sports car is to be built in Coventry, the former home of British car manufacturing. CPP Global Holdings will be using Jaguar’s former Browns Lane site to engineer, develop and build the vehicle. The Interceptor was originally built between 1966 and 1976. A team of Coventry-based designers have completed the design of the new Interceptor for the Jensen brand owners, Healey Sports Cars Switzerland Ltd. CPP hope to start the delivery of the new car in 2014. The public unveiling of the Interceptor is planned for late 2012; however no prices or annual production numbers have been announced, though its rarity could push up car insurance rates for the vehicle. Brendan O’Toole, founder and co-owner of CPP, told the BBC: “I started my career by restoring bodies and components for classic British sports […]

Another retro sports car is being revived. The Jensen Interceptor was a British V8-engined coupe built between 1966 and 1976, and these official pictures show how a modern interpretation of the elegant GT will look when it gets its public unveiling in late 2012, before going on sale in 2014. CPP, a Coventry-based coachbuilder and owner of Spyker sports cars, has won the contract to engineer, develop and build the new Jensen Interceptor from the brand’s Swiss owners, Healey Sports Cars. Based on an all-new aluminium platform with aluminium bodywork, the newcomer will be extremely light for its size. It will use the same four-seat layout as the original and features many of its forerunner’s design cues – including the wraparound rear screen, vents behind the front wheel and quad headlights. Annual production numbers and pricing are yet to be […]

Crowds of up to 25,000 motor fans packed into Rockingham Motor Speedway for the British Touring Car Championship at the weekend. The two-day event is part of Britain’s biggest motor racing championship and was Rockingham’s flagship event during its 10th anniversary year. British motor racing star Lewis Hamilton was among the spectators at the track on Saturday and yesterday to watch his brother Nicolas take part in the racing. Among the several thousand fans was Mark Barber, 28, of Northampton. He said: “I go to see the touring cars quite regularly and it’s good to have it so close to home at this event.” Kevin Clarke, 51, of Finedon, attended the event with his father, who was celebrating his birthday. He said, “It’s the first time I’ve been to Rockingham and the first time that I’ve seen the touring cars. My father […]

After years of plant closures in the region’s car industry (think MG Rover, Peugeot, Jaguar at Brown’s Lane), news this week that JLR will build its new engine plant near Wolverhampton will provide a major boost. This according to the Birmingham News. The new plant will be based at the i54 business park, in the Black Country’s new enterprise zone. As such, the new plant could well qualify for enhanced capital allowances which could see JLR getting tax breaks for big investments in plant and equipment (hats off by the way to AWM for their work in readying the site, local authorities and the Black Country LEP for pulling off Enterprise Zone status, and to the government for backing the investment). But as well as tax breaks, the location makes a lot of sense in other ways. Just off the […]

The spirit of the British sports car tradition is reflected in the aesthetics of Schlegelmilch’s photography and in Lehbrink’s knowledgeable text in British Sports Cars. I am not sure whether to classify this book as a coffee table book because of the beautiful photography or a reference book due to the exhaustive cataloging of the cars and their features. Whichever way you go though, the works is both fascinating and of very hight quality. Without reading a word, I can sit and stare at the imagery for ages. Of the authors, this is said, “There is a persistent rumour that Rainer Schlegelmilch’s birth was initiated on the back seat of a Mercedes Benz 170V. Whether or not this is the source of his ongoing affinity to anything that has four wheels, his fascination with cars is vividly expressed in his […]

Michael Caine is set to live a life long dream at Rockingham on Sunday after agreeing a deal which will see him compete in the final three rounds of this year’s British Touring Car Championship (BTCC). Having held talks with manager of the Airwaves Motorbase team Dave Bartrum last month, a package was agreed between the pair earlier this month to run a third car in the team for the 42 year old from Newmarket in the closing three rounds. It will not be the first time that car salesman Caine has taken to the track in one of the team’s Ford Focus cars having jumped into one at Snetterton last month, when competing against the world’s fastest ice cream van. “It is something that I have always wanted to do ever since I became involved in motor racing,” said […]

The revival of the IPO market, when it comes, will give James Bond fans a chance to own a slice of British luxury car maker Aston Martin and could generate enough funds for the group to revive its famous Lagonda brand. “It’s clear that at some point investors holding equity in an independent company need to devise an exit, and this exit is an IPO that we will do when the time is right,” Chief Executive Ulrich Bez told Reuters on Tuesday. “Aston Martin is working on achieving a valuation comparable to a luxury goods maker.” Ford Motor Co (F.N) sold Aston Martin for 479 million pounds ($756 million) in March 2007, to a consortium led by David Richards — former Formula 1 Benetton and BAR racing boss — as well as two Kuwaiti funds. In an interview at the […]

I was one of those people very disappointed by the Jaguar XJS, the car that replaced the E-Type Jag when it came out in the mid-Seventies. To me, it wasn’t a sports car at all, but more of a boulevard cruiser. Since then, there have been sporting Jaguars, for sure, but no real sports car. The E-Type is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful cars of all time, so making something as gorgeous again is an incredibly difficult task. But 50 years on from the creation of the E-Type, Jaguar has come closer than ever to matching its beauty. Its latest model, though, the C-X16, which is being shown in Frankfurt at the moment, has all the styling clues of a Jaguar sports car and especially the E-Type. I love the rear end; the twin exhausts look great, as do […]

Renowned British automobile brand, MG has joined the growing number of automobile brands in the country courtesy of Coscharis Motors, a leading automobile marketing company which also represents BMW, Land Rover, Jaguar and Ford, in Nigeria. Presenting the MG models to members of the Nigerian Motoring Press over the weekend in their Victoria Island Lagos office, Mrs. Helen Alechenu, Deputy General Manager Coscharis Motors described the MG as typical British brand, through manufactured in China by SAIC Motors. According to her, “The MG, as the best representative of the United Kingdom automobile industry, has significant leverage in the United States Sports Car Market, hence MG brand history is the Chronicle of the world automobile industry.” The Deputy General Manager who ones had a stint in the BMW, Land Rover and Ford sections of the Coscharis Auto Group, explained that the […]

Classic and Sports car Magazine reported on the first and last of the fabled E-types recently coming together for the first time ever at Sandown Park in Surrey. The cars in question were 1 VHP, as featured in the October issue of C&SC, the first production right-hand-drive fixed-head coupé commonly known as Chassis Number 1, and HDU 555N, the last S3 V12 to leave the Browns Lane factory. The Sandown event was a collaboration between Jaguar Heritage, Classic Motor Cars of Bridgnorth and Barry Potter Fairs, yet another outing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landmark British design. More than 4000 visitors to the show also saw other important E-types, including two more from the current issue of C&SC: the famed Lindner-Nocker Lightweight and 1600 RW, the first E-type to be sold. Other highlights included Jag test driver Norman Dewis signing copies […]

The first pictures of the Eterniti Hemera have been released by the start-up British company before the ‘super SUV’ makes its debut at the Frankfurt motor show. The images are of a prototype, and appear to show that the car is based on a Porsche Cayenne, as the car shares many of the dimensions and details of the German 4×4. A statement from London-based Eterniti claims that the car will bring “new levels of luxury and performance to the SUV segment” and the company also claims it will have a top speed in excess of 180mph. This will come from a claimed power output of “over 620bhp”. The brand says the car will also offer “a limousine-like rear cabin, including twin electric reclining seats, iPads and a drinks chiller” for those that want to be driven rather than take the […]

Jaguar’s £64,000 XF Model has been crowned the decade’s best vehicle by Auto Express magazine. The Driver Power study – which is voted on entirely by the British public – factors in such issues as reliability, performance, handling, ease of use, design, running cost, comfort and dealer performance. Jaguar XF, which is built in Castle Bromwich near Birmingham, topped many car buyers’ lists, coming top overall; as well as in numerous individual categories, achieving a total satisfaction rating of 91 per cent. Completing the top ten were, in order: Skoda Octavia Mk2, Lexus Rx Mk2, Hyundai i30, Land Rover Discovery Mk3, Honda S2000, Honda Jazz Mk2, Honda Jazz Mk1, Jaguar XJ6/8 and Nissan Qashqai. In other categories, Lexus was given the manufacturer of the year award, whilst Hyundai was noted as the most improved manufacturer. After receiving the award, Jaguar’s […]

Mini has celebrated the two millionth car rolling off the production line with prime minister David Cameron driving the vehicle at the car’s Oxfordshire plant. The iconic British vehicle began production ten years ago following a successful relaunch and a large amount of public anticipation. Over 1.5 million cars have been exported by Mini, owned by BMW, while the company’s latest expansion plans to cater for the latest generation of the vehicles takes it total UK investment to £1.5 billion. “The two millionth Mini to be made here in Oxford is a fantastic symbol of the UK’s strength in the global automotive industry,” said the prime minister, adding that the car represents a great British manufacturing success story. Frank-Peter Arndt, BMW board member responsible for production, added: “The most essential factors in the success of Mini are the skills, passion […]