No Picture
Highlights

MINI Family Growing. Again.

While it may receive a name change before taking a bow at dealerships, the Paceman will be the seventh MINI model in showrooms, following the debut of the MINI Roadster in 2012 and the MINI Cooper Coupe this October. The Paceman is based on the same underpinnings as the MINI Countryman crossover, and will be produced in the same assembly plant in Graz, Austria. The new concept was displayed at the 2011 Autoshow in Detroit. “If MINI keeps releasing cars at their current pace, we’re going to have to expand our showroom,” said Tim Parker, general manager of New Country MINI, a Hartford, Connecticut MINI dealer. “The Paceman packs the capability of the Countryman into a sportier package, which is the right recipe for a lot of Connecticut MINI fans that want a fun ride when the weather is cooperating […]

No Picture
Highlights

Team RLR and MG Head to Silverstone

Planet LeMans is reporting that boosted by a new driver and a major sponsor, Team RLR will enter the 6 Hours of Silverstone determined to impress in front of a home crowd at the penultimate round of the 2011 Le Mans Series next weekend (September 9-11). The mid-season break proved to be a productive one for the Lancashire-based squad as it added former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Warren Hughes to its line-up alongside regular drivers Barry Gates and Rob Garofall, and also confirmed famous British car brand MG Motor UK as an official sponsor. Read the complete story over at Planet LeMans.

No Picture
Auctions & Sales

Auction of British Vintage Racer Estate

As reported by Bring A Trailer, an auction will be held on September 24th in New Cumberland, Pennsylvania that will liquidate the 5-acre property and British car collection of the former owner. It is rare to find such a sale that includes restored cars and vintage racers in what looks like pristine condition. They are shown parked in a finished display area with hardwood floors! Find more info and photos here via AuctionZip.com. A brief (?!) inventory listing of the auction…. Cars – 1966 Austin Healey 3000, 1962 Triumph TR4 vintage race car w/race history, Land Rover Series IIA, Morris Minor 1000, 1979 CJ5 Jeep & P/A plow, off road ATV like new buggy, Areins 14 hp Hydrostatic garden tractor & cart; Lucas items; hundreds of  vintage oil cans & oil & gas station items; British car parts; grill badges & rally plates; […]

No Picture
Classic Cars

Frontline Drags MGB Into 21st Century

This in from the TopGear site…  To be honest, the presenters weren’t that impressed with the new MG6 during the show on Sunday. Or its recycled-racing-horse badge adhesive. However, this latest old-car-new-tech offering from Frontline Developments seems like a valiant use of the brand. And a rather more affordable alternative to the Eagle Speedster. Each car uses a new British Motor Heritage MGB shell, into which Frontline shoves a 2012 2-litre VVC MX-5 engine. It’s got billeted con-rods and crankshaft, forged fully-skirted and Teflon-coated pistons and it’s been hopped up with a 45mm direct injection throttle body and closed-loop Lamda set up. That equates to 215bhp and 170lb ft at 4000rpm. That means 240bhp per ton (it only weighs 900kg). 240bhp. IN AN MGB! But don’t worry, the sixties shell’s been uprated to cope with the 130bhp power boost (the B […]

No Picture
Highlights

Land Rover Considering Grande Evoque

While Mercedes calls its cars “uber” internally when they want to give them steroids, the British marketing teams at Land Rover are currently considering a “Grande Evoque”, which will fill the gap in the lineup between the compact Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport. Once again, this is a car that’s being analyzed from a marketing point of view first and then from an automotive perspective, but we’ll let it slide because we like the new design direction the British firm has. According to Autocar, inside sources say that a final conclusion on whether to give the go-ahead or not is close to being reached. Land Rover wants to bridge the gap in price between the range-topping Evoque and the entry-level Sport. The Grande Evoque could be a five-door machine that takes the recently introduced shape and blows […]

No Picture
Highlights

Robbie Williams Can’t Drive

Robbie Williams has admitted he still can’t drive a car at the age of 37. The British singer struggles to get around Los Angeles, where he lives with wife Ayda Field, because he has never passed his driving test. He said: “I don’t have a driver’s licence. In London you just don’t drive because the traffic is terrible, so you get cabs to go everywhere, which has left me being 37 and still without a driver’s licence in Los Angeles.” Although he can’t drive, the Take That star – who has teamed up with country music star Bob Paisley to record ‘Collision of Worlds’ for the forthcoming ‘Cars 2’ movie – is fascinated by cars and loves watching motor racing on television. In an interview organised by Disney and posted on Robbie’s official website, he said: “We have Formula 1 […]

Monterey Poster 2011 - Jaguar E-Type
Classic Cars

Artwork Pays Tribute to Jaguar E-Type 50th Anniversary

The speed and elegance of one of motoring’s iconic cars of all time — the sleek Jaguar E-Type — reveals itself as the inspiration for the official poster art of the 2011 Rolex Monterey Motorsports Reunion. Jaguar is this year’s featured marque and will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the E-Type at the annual gathering of historic race and sports cars to be held August 19-21 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca during the Monterey Classic Car Week. Renowned artist Bill Patterson, who is the official artist of Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, says the E-Type is true art on wheels. “Having fallen in love with racing and fast cars in the ’60s, the E-Type represented the perfect blend of design, technology, performance and sex appeal. It still looks fantastic today, 50 years after it was first produced. And to have been […]

No Picture
Corporate Business

MINI Production Plan is Second Lift

A beleaguered British motor industry delivered its second boost to the economy in as many days yesterday as BMW announced plans to build its next generation Mini in country. The German car giant said it will make a fresh investment of £500 million to build the new Mini coupe and Mini Roadster models in the UK. The news followed an announcement on Wednesday by Nissan that it was investing £192m to build the next version of its Qashqai model in Britain. Both announcements safeguard thousands of jobs. Business leaders, unions and the government welcomed the development, which the Prime Minister said was a “tremendous vote of confidence” in BMW’s UK workforce. The Mini coupe will be launched later this year and the Mini Roadster in 2012, both produced in Oxford, where more than two million Minis have been built since […]

No Picture
Highlights

Lotus To Build Own V6 and V8 Engines

Lotus is doing a bit of rearranging in their kitchen now that plans for the Elan sports car have been placed on the backburner. Apparently, the British manufacturer is using the money that had been set aside for the Elan to develop their very own lineup of V6 and V8 engines. During an interview, Project Boss Dany Bahar said: “This is a big [financial] hit because it’s expensive to do 
an engine,” says Bahar. “But 
because the Elan is not happening now we have got capital expenditure headroom 
for engine development.” The first engine cooking is a V8 that will set up the competition for Ferrari’s V8 engine as seen in the 458 Italia. The new Lotus V8 will deliver between 550 – 570 HP and will undergo testing in July 2011. It will be dropped in the new Esprit […]

No Picture
Corporate Business

Over £3 Million In Orders For New MG

Longbridge’s first all-new MG for 16 years has drummed up over £3 million of business in just two weeks – with 180 cars sold. The MG6 has got off to a flying start since the official VIP launch in April, with buyers facing a waiting list of up to six weeks as dealers cope with a flood of orders for new MG model. Sales of the new MG6 follow the relaunch of volume car-making at the Birmingham car factory six years on from the collapse of MG Rover in April 2005, when 6,500 jobs were lost. MG Motor UK PR and Events Manager Doug Wallace said the Chinese-backed company was delighted with the response to the MG6, which sells for between £15,495 and £18,995. “The value of MG6 GT fastbacks sold or ordered is just over £3 million – we […]

No Picture
Highlights

Art Deco and British Car Design

You may think of the French as producing the most strikingly streamlined cars of the 1930s, in lyric teardrop bodies hammered out with doses of Italian style and German science. But in his book “Art Deco and British Car Design: The Airline Cars of the 1930s“, Barrie Down reminds us that streamline design was the rage among car buffs everywhere in the ’30s, even in upright, country-house, Evelyn Waugh Britain. Mr. Down reminds us that at the same time streamline cars were going on the market, ocean liners and trains were being streamlined, the better to compete with the nascent airline industry. His book also reminds us that the automobile industry of the time in Britain had yet to embrace mass production. Cars were sold to the few, and the sellers were coachbuilders as much as chassis or engine makers. […]

No Picture
Corporate Business

Jaguar Land Rover Profits Rise Above One Billion Pounds

The company, which only two years ago attempted to seek Government support as global car sales collapsed, said pre-tax profits rose from £15m last year to £1.1bn in the year to March 31. The increase has been driven by a huge rise in Jaguar and Land Rover sales in China and emerging markets, where the middle classes see the British cars as a status symbol. JLR sales rose 51pc in the year from £6.6bn to £9.9bn, which was also aided by new models such as the Jaguar XJ and favourable foreign exchange rates. “Jaguar Land Rover is now a strong, profitable and innovative competitor in the premium car industry,” said Carl-Peter Forster, chief executive of JLR’s parent company Tata Motors. Indian company Tata bought JLR from Ford in 2008, but initially suffered heavy losses as the recessions struck. Read the […]

No Picture
Aston Martin

Aston Martin V12 Zagato Supercar

A tie up between British car maker Aston Martin and Italian design house Zagato sounds pretty tasty, doesn’t it? Having said that, it isn’t the first time that these two work together. If you have a long memory you might recall they first worked together with the DB4GT Zagato. 19 of these supercars were built, and Stirling Moss rode one to third place at Goodwood in 1961. But this is 2011 and the new model is a complete stunner which would have even Sir Stirling purring in admiration 50 years on from the first car produced by the two companies. It is called the Aston Martin V12 Zagato and is based on the V12 Vantage car. The CEO of Aston Martin is called Dr Ulrich Bez and he said that the Zagato design is a “perfect complement” to the Aston Martin expertise. […]

No Picture
Corporate Business

Land Rovers Start Rolling Out of India

Land Rovers began rolling off the assembly line Friday at the British brand’s first plant in India since it was bought by the Indian car giant Tata Motors. Parts are still being manufactured at Jaguar Land Rover’s plant in Liverpool, England, but Land Rover Freelander 2 SUV’s are now being built in the western Indian city of Pune. India offers Jaguar great opportunities to build cars for less, Carl-Peter Forster, chief executive officer and managing director of Tata Motors, told reporters. “Clearly, India can be a very attractive sourcing base, an opportunity to source increasingly high quality but lower cost components not only for India operations but for overseas operations,” he said. Forster has already indicated that Indian engineering will also play a role in the design of Jaguar Land Rover engines. Tata bought Jaguar from Ford in 2008 for […]

No Picture
Aston Martin

Aston Martin unveils new Virage

Aston Martin has unveiled its new Virage coupé set to be launched at the Geneva Motor Show. The British luxury sports car manufacturer said that the new car, which combines performance with luxury, comfort and refinement, sits between the more basic DB9 and the sporty DBS in the line-up. The model, powered by a 6.0 litre V12 engine in 490bhp trim, features rear-wheel drive through a carbon fibre prop shaft and a six-speed Touchtronic II automatic gearbox. It offers Carbon Ceramic Matrix (CCM) brakes as standard, and comes equipped with features including an improved Adaptive Damping System (ADS) to provide efficient road holding in different conditions. The ADS system chooses from five different stiffness settings within normal mode, and from a further five stiffer settings within sport mode. The sport mode allows drivers to select a sharper throttle response and […]

No Picture
Corporate Business

Jaguar XJ and XF models could also turn hybrid by 2013-14

Close on the heels of Tata Motors-owned Land Rover announcing its plans to develop hybrid cars, the Indian automaker’s another British subsidiary has now decided to toe the line. Jaguar Cars, is now reportedly looking to introduce hybrid versions of its XJ and XF models in 2013-’14, using hardware developed with sister brand Land Rover, as reported by Britain’s Car magazine. The magazine has also stated that the first Jaguar hybrids could be launched soon after the planned 2013 introduction of the first Land Rover hybrid. It was reported very recently that by the end of 2010 Land Rover will be testing the first diesel hybrid prototype called the ‘range_e’ which is being developed using a Range Rover Sport platform. Tests of this vehicle will use the existing 3.0 litre TDV6 diesel engine featuring a ZF 8-speed automatic transmission. The […]

No Picture
Events

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

From all of us to all of you, we wish you the best in this holiday season. And throughout the year! The Work of Christmas When the song of angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and the princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock, The work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to make music in the heart. — Howard Thurman