Highlights

Aston Martin, the British luxury car maker, is planning a five-year trade and investment drive in China worth over £600 million as part of its expansion in the world’s largest automotive market. The five-year plan, which follows the company’s earlier announcement of a new dealership in Wuhan, was announced by Aston Martin President and Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Andy Palmer during a visit to China by a UK business delegation accompanying British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Chief Design Officer, was last night named Designer of the Year at the Festival Automobile International. The Grand Prix du Design prize recognizes McGovern’s Land Rover designs and their influence across the car industry.

British specialist sports car maker – The Lister Motor Company – is next month set to reveal the fastest, most powerful and luxurious car it has ever built in the legendary Cambridgeshire marque’s 65-year history, with the launch of the Lister Thunder. The Thunder will be unveiled exclusively next month at Historic Motorsport International, staged at London’s ExCeL, from 15th-18th of February, where full details of this exciting new limited-production Lister supercar for the 21st Century will be revealed.

Rigorously tested across extremes of terrain and temperature, the I-PACE has tamed the Arctic at Jaguar Land Rover’s cold weather test facility in Arjeplog, Sweden, at temperatures as low as -40°C. Tony Westerlund, a potential customer from Sweden, had some interesting questions on living with I-PACE in Arctic conditions, particularly regarding stability and traction on the ice and snow. To answer his questions, Jaguar engineers invited him to Arjeplog to drive the car for the first time and see how it’s been tested to ensure performance in extreme conditions. Following is a video of those questions.

Caterham sales grew by a further 8% in 2017, with 667 orders taken over the 12-month period. Not only that but the additional 51 sales registered last year helped the British manufacturer secure its best sales figures in 21 years and contributed towards a second consecutive year of sales growth. The achievement rounded off a magnificent 60th anniversary year for the Seven with the landmark moment being the 60 limited edition retro-racer Seven SuperSprints selling out in a record seven hours at Goodwood Revival.

A one-of-a-kind McLaren 720S created by the British luxury sports car and supercar manufacturer has been auctioned for charity at the Naples Winter Wine Festival, raising $650,000 for the Naples Children & Education Foundation. Developed by McLaren Special Operations (MSO), the bespoke 720S in Luxury specification features a range of additional options including extensive use of carbon fiber on both the exterior and interior of the car. Additional MSO-specific content includes a Nerello Red exterior paint finish (named after the Nerello Mascalese grape from the Mascali area of Castaia, Sicily); a Saddle Brown with Nerello stitching leather interior; and a custom steering wheel featuring leather and Carbon Black leather grips. A grape motif is featured throughout the vehicle and a bespoke dedication plate marks the specialty commission.

Bentley Team M-Sport’s 2018 motorsport season and Intercontinental GT Challenge campaign get underway in Australia next weekend when two Continental GT3s line up for the Bathurst 12 Hour. The British squad travels to Mount Panorama eager to claim a third consecutive overall podium at one of the world’s toughest long-distance sportscar races, before heading back to Europe for the defense of its Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup teams’ title.

According to a recent article in Autocar, the all-new successor to the classic Jaguar XJ line will launch at the end of 2018, the 50th anniversary of the line, and go on sale in 2019. What’s more, the car will be all-electric directly targeting the likes of Tesla and leading Jaguar’s push into the high-tech future. Autocar has learned that the decision has been taken to replace it, despite the tougher market for luxury saloons in the face of the rising popularity of luxury SUVs. However, it is being replaced not with a like-for-like model but with one that reinvents the very idea of a luxury saloon as an electric car and can act as a high-tech flagship for Jaguar. Jaguar will launch its first electric car, the I-Pace, in March. That model will have a significant technology transfer with the […]

The following individuals have been selected for the 2018 class of honorees for the British Sports Car Hall of Fame. This will be the second year for these ceremonies. Joe Alexander – The owner of Alexander Racing Enterprises and a founding member of the Friends of Triumph. Chuck Anderson – One of the founding members of the Austin-Healey Club of America and a leading proponent of the marque in the United States.

The MINI JCW Team and MINI USA will start their fourth full season in the Street Tuner class of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series this weekend at the famous high banks of the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. The MINI JCW Team kicked off last season by showing the rest of the field that they were a force to be reckoned with after Mat Pombo and co-driver Derek Jones drove the #73 MINI JCW to victory lane at the track known as the “World Center of Racing.”

10 unique McLaren sportscars that emulate the look and feel of a McLaren 570S GT4 race car but are fully road-legal have today been delivered to their new owners at a special McLaren customer event near Las Vegas, USA. Commissioned as an MSO Bespoke project – the service from McLaren Special Operations (MSO) that allows almost limitless enhancement and personalization of McLaren cars –  the 10 MSO X cars were ordered by the US market’s largest McLaren retailer, McLaren Newport Beach. Designed to mirror the external appearance of the McLaren 570S GT4 race car as closely as possible, the MSO X cars are deliberately finished in accordance with race car design practice and all have liveries inspired by McLaren F1 GTR endurance race cars of the mid-1990s.

Racing legend Sir Stirling Moss has made the decision to retire from the public eye at age 88 even as he continues to recover from a 2016 respiratory infection. In an announcement posted to Sir Stirling’s official website, his son, Elliott, writes: To all of his many friends and fans around the world who use this website for regular updates, my father would like to announce that he will be closing it down. Following his severe infections at the end of 2016 and his subsequent slow and arduous recovery, the decision has been made that, at the age of 88, the indefatigable man will finally retire, so that he and my mother can have some much deserved rest and spend more time with each other and the rest of the family. The entire and extended Moss clan thank everyone for […]

According to many, the last “real” MG was the MGB series which included the MGC — a very important part of the MG history. With over a half million built from 1962 thru 1980, the “B” was certainly the world’s best selling sports car until very recently being surpassed by the Mazda Miata. In this new video put out by Shelbourne Films and available on the Youtube MG channel restoration expert Tom Metcalf, North American MGB Register’s Alan Magnuson, and John Rogers of the North American MGC Register provide interesting and insightful information about these cars. In this new video put out by Shelbourne Films and available on the Youtube MG channel restoration expert Tom Metcalf, North American MGB Register’s Alan Magnuson, and John Rogers of the North American MGC Register provide interesting and insightful information about these cars.

New from David Townsend at Sports Car Art has released an art print of the Sunbeam Tiger Targa Florio. The #192 Sunbeam Tiger that ran the 1965 Targa Florio may possibly be the most famous Sunbeam Tiger on the planet. Immortalized in the Castrol film Mountain Legends, the Rootes competition prepared Tiger finished a respectable 14th in the grueling Sicilian race. Starting with a stock 1964 Alpine, the legendary Carroll Shelby was brought in to modify the Sunbeam by the addition of a Ford 289 Hi-Po V8. The small-block Ford was chosen for the modification due to its small profile and the relative ease with which it could be installed into the Alpine chassis. Most of the other modifications—large fuel tank, oil cooler, a few special additions for the navigator—were pretty typical fare for the era. One of the more interesting changes was the […]

The V8-powered Aston Martin DB11 won the “Best coupé for more than £50,000” category at the 40th annual What Car? Car of the Year Awards this evening. The Aston Martin DB11 is credited with turning around the fortunes of the British luxury carmaker when it was launched in 2016. The 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 version came along last summer and was an immediate success.

Our video this week deals with the last production MGB made and its continued travels. On October 23rd, 1980 the very last MGB Roadster rolled off the production line at the MG Car Company in Abingdon. After a while, this final specimen ended up in The Heritage Motor Center alongside 300 other classic, vintage, and veteran British cars. In fact, The Heritage Motor Center in Gaydon is the world’s largest British sports car collection. However, recognizing the importance of MG’s to the people of Abingdon, the Center was kind enough to loan that last MGB to Abingdon County Hall Museum for an indefinite period of time. There was only one problem with the loan – the display area at the museum is on the second floor of a historic building with winding stairs and no good way to get a full-sized car, even […]

Land Rover today announces the introduction of the world’s first full-size luxury SUV coupé. The new Range Rover SV Coupé will be a dramatic and desirable addition to the Range Rover portfolio, featuring a seductive body design and a supremely refined interior. The Range Rover SV Coupé is a highly compelling design with peerless refinement and uncompromised sophistication from its breathtaking exterior proportions to its sumptuous, beautifully appointed, interior. This is a vehicle that will resonate on an emotional level. — Gerry Mcgovern, Land Rover Chief Design Officer SV Coupé is a celebration of the Range Rover bloodline, with a dramatic two-door silhouette which alludes to its unique heritage – Range Rover launched as a two-door in 1970 – while being thoroughly modern and contemporary.

Bentley and the Royal College of Art (RCA) are today announcing details of an exciting collaboration aimed at exploring the future of British luxury. Bentley’s Design Director Stefan Sielaff – himself an alumnus of the RCA’s renowned Intelligent Mobility programme – is challenging second-year post-graduate students to develop concepts around ‘the meaning of future British luxury in the year 2050. Students at the London university are being asked to use the project as an opportunity to interrogate the future of areas such as craftsmanship, materials, technology and, of course, luxury.