Month: March 2017

Jaguar Land Rover, the UK’s leading manufacturer of premium luxury vehicles today reported its best ever February retail sales of 40,978 vehicles, up 9% on February 2016, thanks to strong sales performances in China and North America. The company sold 88,671 vehicles in the first two months of 2016, 6% up on the same period in the prior year. Retail sales for the month of February were up year-on-year across many key regions: 40% in China, 16% in North America and 14% in the UK. Europe and other Overseas markets were down 2% and 7% respectively year-on-year.

Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) has designed and engineered a bespoke version of the new Land Rover Discovery for use by the Austrian Red Cross. Project Hero was presented to the world’s media for the first time today at the Geneva Motor Show. Project Hero is an advanced communication vehicle, created to support Jaguar Land Rover’s partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network. SVO collaborated with the Austrian Red Cross to develop a unique Land Rover that will be trialled by their emergency response teams. It is hoped it will help the Red Cross save lives by speeding up response times to disasters. 

A treasure trove for automotive bargain hunters, Beaulieu’s much-loved Spring Autojumble will return on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th May with a staggering range of motoring miscellany spread across more than 1,000 stands. After a winter of tinkering in the garage, classic car enthusiasts from across Europe will be heading to the weekend event in the grounds of the National Motor Museum to snap up elusive spares and sell surplus parts for their precious machines.

At this year’s Geneva Motor Show, Rolls-Royce will show why it is considered to be the world’s leading luxury house by showcasing the full breadth of its Bespoke capabilities. The facets of Bespoke tailoring, Bespoke engineering and Bespoke jewellery will demonstrate to every connoisseur who commissions a Rolls-Royce that they can count on having their desire for a truly personal motor car, that reflects who they are, fulfilled in the most fitting manner to them. In short, they can be assured that Bespoke is Rolls-Royce. ‘Dawn – Inspired by Fashion’ will, with its Spring/Summer 2017 collection of three colour schemes, show how Bespoke means complementing the fine couture our patrons wear from day to day. 

Natarajan Chandrasekaran has been appointed Director and Chairman of the Jaguar Land Rover Automotive plc board. Mr Chandrasekaran is Chairman of Tata Sons and also holds the following positions: Director on the board of the Reserve Bank of India, board member of Tata Steel Limited and board member of TCS Foundation. Note: Press release courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover.

Burlen Ltd, the world’s only manufacturer of genuine SU (Skinners Union), AMAL and Zenith carburetors, fuel pumps and spares, is celebrating a record-breaking 2016 and continuing to demonstrate remarkable growth. The Salisbury-based company enjoyed a hugely impressive annual turnover of £5.2 million in 2016 – smashing its previous best records and its own start-of-year target in the process. Burlen has an incredibly rich history with products dating back over one hundred years and a stellar reputation to uphold, which is of the utmost importance to the Burnett brothers.

Just a brief note with a single picture, the Jaguar I-PACE Concept will make its European motor show debut at the Geneva Motor Show on 7 March in a new color – Photon Red. To use a phrase from the past, I do believe the I-PACE is the “Shape of Things to Come”.  

The new Velar fills the space in the Range Rover family between the Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Sport. Refined for every occasion, for every terrain, Velar uses unique sustainable materials and advanced engineering to continue Land Rover’s drive to go Above and Beyond. Created from a clean sheet using Jaguar Land Rover’s Lightweight Aluminium Architecture, it is safer, stronger, cleaner and improves driving performance. The Range Rover Velar brings a new dimension of glamor, modernity, and elegance to the Range Rover family. Designed to fill the white space between Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Sport, Velar offers levels of luxury, refinement and all-terrain capability never before seen in the mid-size SUV segment. This is a new type of Range Rover for a new type of customer.

A stunning and very rare 1971 Aston Martin DB6 MKII Vantage Saloon belonging to touring car driver, commentator and TV personality, John Cleland, will be offered at auction at Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale at Silverstone circuit. As one of only 34 examples made, this original right-hand drive, matching engine and chassis numbers, factory built Vantage DB6 MKII manual has been exceptionally well maintained and improved by Aston Martin specialists throughout its life.

Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC today reported February 2017 U.S. sales: Jaguar sales were 3,484 units, a 130 percent increase from 1,512 units in February 2016; Land Rover sales reached 5,747 units, down 10 percent from record February sales of 6,417 units in 2016; Jaguar Land Rover February U.S. sales for both brands hit 9,231 units, a 16 percent increase from 7,929 units in February 2016; making it the best ever Jaguar Land Rover February sales month. “We are very pleased to have our best ever February retail month in the U.S. with both car and SUV sales growing across the two brands,” said Joe Eberhardt, President and CEO, Jaguar Land Rover North America, LLC. “The Jaguar brand continues to grow at a torrid pace on strength of the two newest products, the XE and F-PACE. Land Rover is […]

The British Motor Trade Association (BMTA) will be visiting the heart of North American motorsports – Charlotte, NC, March 2-4, 2017. The conference will be hosted by Dick and Beth Lunney of Classic MG Magazine, Lake Speed Jr. of Driven Racing Oil, and many other local shops will be assisting. While some have predicted the demise of the classic British car industry in America, there are clear indicators that the industry is not only doing fine, but has many opportunities to thrive and even expand. The industry has grown from small importers in the post-war period to large distribution networks in the 1960s and 1970s. With the demise of many British brands in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the industry shrank and began a shift from factory-supported parts and repair businesses to independent businesses. This first step in the […]

Bentley Motors is today announcing the introduction of the Bentayga Mulliner: the ultimate luxury SUV. Bentley’s in-house personal commissioning division, Mulliner, has applied its exquisite craftsmanship to the multi-award-winning Bentayga, creating a new flagship model and setting new standards in automotive luxury.

Rolls-Royce Motor Cars has unveiled a seminal new concept in luxury, crafted for one very special customer, St Richard’s Hospital Pediatric Day Surgery Unit in the marque’s home town of Chichester, West Sussex. The appropriately-named Rolls-Royce SRH will allow children awaiting surgery to drive themselves to the operating theater, through the Pediatric Unit corridors which are lined with ‘traffic signs’. The experience of ‘self-drive to theater’ aims to reduce child patient stress.

Our video of the week this time hits a subject that some of us, myself included, deal with but from the other way round. What we are talking about is left hand drive versus right hand drive cars. One of the cars I drive, a 1966 Vanden Plas Princess, is right hand drive, and I would never even entertain the notion of altering it. But, I have had a number of passengers who express their surprise that not only can I drive the car with ease but some are even surprised that it is legal here in the US. Truthfully, it never bothers me at all and I kind of enjoy the novelty.  Our video this week deals with this issue from the other side  – the subject is left hand drive cars in the UK. Perhaps importantly, the underlying issue […]