Highlights

Jaguar Land Rover North America, today reported April 2017 U.S. sales: Jaguar sales were 3,230 units, a 197 percent increase from 1,087 units in April 2016; Land Rover sales increased slightly to 5,211 units; Jaguar Land Rover April U.S. sales for both brands hit 8,441 units, a 35 percent increase from 6,275 units in April 2016; making it the best ever Jaguar Land Rover April sales month (previous best was 8,216 units in 2002). Year to date, Jaguar Land Rover is up 24 percent in the United States. We are thrilled to have had a record-setting April sales month for Jaguar Land Rover based on a strong product offering and our dedicated retailer network. The Jaguar F-TYPE and Land Rover Discovery Sport had an outstanding sales month and continue to contribute to the brands’ growing sales momentum. — Joe Eberhardt, […]

Our Video of the Week for this first week of May comes via Aston Martin. Watch an incredible celebration of Aston Martin’s heritage, bringing together 28 very special Aston Martins with a combined value of £65 million in a film produced to celebrate the transfer of ownership of the three super hangars at St Athan. The Aston Martin Vulcan was the first car to turn a wheel at the site of the British luxury carmaker’s second UK manufacturing plant at St Athan in South Wales recently, signaling the start of the redevelopment of the former MOD site into a state-of-the-art facility. The appearance of the Aston Martin Vulcan though was just the start of an incredible celebration of Aston Martin’s heritage, which brought together 28 very special Aston Martins with a combined value of £65 million in a film produced […]

As Land Rover begins the countdown towards its 70th-anniversary celebrations on 30 April 2018, the perfect gift for Defender lovers across the globe has been announced. Icon is the definitive official book celebrating Series and Defender models. It hits the shelves in July. Just over 69 years ago, on April 30, 1948, a legend was born as the first Land Rover was revealed to the world at the Amsterdam Motor Show. Over the next seven decades the rugged 4×4 visited all corners of the world as it wrote its name into automotive folklore.

This week, Land Rover North America launched its marketing campaign to introduce the new 2017 Land Rover Discovery, the brand’s most versatile and capable SUV. Led by the 30-second television commercial featuring the Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) sailing team, the U.S. campaign includes interactive media partnerships with The New York Times, Travel Channel and CNN’s “Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown,” as well as experiential and influencer activities.

Donald Healey was a man with many talents – pilot, mechanic and rally driver. Most notable to the majority of British car fans, Donald Healey was the driving force behind the Austin Healey sports cars such as the Austin Healey 3000 and the bugeye (or frogeye) Sprite. Donald Healey, CBE will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame this June.

The 18th annual Aston Martin Sale will be held by International auction house Bonhams on Saturday,  May 13, 2017. The sale will take place at the spiritual home of Aston Martin’s heritage, Aston Martin Works in Newport Pagnell, where many of this year’s lots were originally built.   The 2017 sale is a celebration of old and new Aston Martins, with cars ranging from 1953 through to 2016.

Peter Egan is one of the people who is near legendary to many car folk, especially those of us even slightly involved in the writing or publishing end of things. As a longtime columnist and writer for Road & Track magazine, he represented the thoughts, aspirations, and tribulations of so many British car enthusiasts that he might as well be given prophet status. He will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. Peter Egan was born in Wisconsin in 1948.  He became a sports car fan early on through magazines and the by attending races at Elkhart Lake. After a short stint in the Army, Egan married and began work at Foreign Car Specialists in Madison, Wisconsin. His love of all things motorized has propelled him from that point onward. Although he never graduated college, […]

A 1960 Bentley S2, owned by legendary rhythm guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for The Kinks, Sir Ray Davies, will go under the hammer at Silverstone Auctions’ May Sale, taking place at Silverstone circuit on 13th May. The car was bought by Sir Ray Davies in 1966 after the Kinks’ single Lola went to Number 1 in the charts around the world. He was persuaded by his family to invest in a big car, unusual for him as he didn’t actually drive at the time, in fact, he didn’t start driving until he was 44 years old.

Instead of using caffeine to wake you up, how about a nice brisk morning drive in a beautiful Triumph TR3A? Via the fine folks at Petrolicious, our Video of the Week the go rounds is titled “A Triumph TR3A to Warm Up a Cold Morning“. Another soft spot for me since I once owned a small-mouth TR3, although admittedly I sold it before the was put back together enough to see road time.

Norman Dewis, OBE was the chief test driver and development engineer for Jaguar Cars from 1952 to 1985. During his time at Jaguar, he helped develop one of the greatest-ever upgrades in automotive braking, the disc brake, which has probably saved tens of thousands of lives over the years. Dewis, along with 23 other outstanding individuals, will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame in June.

Jaguar has revealed the first glimpse of the desirable new XF Sportbrake over Wimbledon’s iconic Centre Court. With less than 70 days to go until The Championships, Wimbledon 2017, the famously manicured surface of the All England Lawn Tennis Club served as the canvas for a large-scale outline of the dynamic sports estate.

McLaren Toronto has been named the North American Retailer of the Year 2016 in recognition of its sales performance and highest standards of business operation.

Michael Dale is the retired President of Jaguar North America where he was responsible for the company’s activities in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Prior to being named President, he had been responsible for all U.S. Jaguar sales and marketing activities, including advertising and sales promotion. Michael Dale will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017.

Jimmy Cox is a former engine guru and works mechanic at the MG Development Department responsible for many of the company’s racing and record-breaking successes. He was with the successful MG record breaking team at the Bonneville Salt Flats in 1959 and was also part of the MG team who went to Le Mans in 1955. Jimmy Cox will be inducted into the British Sports Car Hall of Fame on June 2, 2017. In 1945, at the young age of just 14, Jimmy Cox started work at MG’s Abingdon factory as a mere messenger boy. That eventually led to work on the MG TC production line, but in 1949 Cox entered the military for his two-year duties. Upon returning to MG in 1951 he again was working on standard production cars but soon had the opportunity to take over responsibility […]

Without equal and without compromise, the ballistic new Exige Cup 380 coupe provides the perfect balance between fully type approved road car and genuine race car to deliver the ultimate track-and-back street-legal Lotus. Evolved from the hugely successful and capable Exige Sport 380, this latest Lotus supercar is the purest manifestation yet of the company’s Cup concept for sports cars. Genuinely eligible for competition yet undeniably elegant, just 60 editions of this extreme Exige are planned for worldwide markets – assuring its status as one of Lotus’ most collectible road cars.

From time to time Aston Martin, using their Lagonda brand, launched a four-door saloons. In 1961 they brought back the Lagonda name again with the Rapide saloon which was based on the then current Aston Martin DB4 but was the first car to use the new dual overhead cam 4-liter inline six which produced 236 bhp, at 5500 RPM and 288-foot-pounds of torque at a relatively high 3850 RPM. With this power unit, the car was reported to achieve 0-60 in 9.0 seconds, quite fast for the era, and a top speed of a very impressive 130 MPH. This was, however, the last Lagonda to use a six-cylinder engine although this engine was standard fitment in the DB5.

Well, it looks like the MG E-Motion concept we talked about last week is one step to making it into production as a rival to the Tesla Model S. Following the reveal of the concept car at the Shanghai Motor show, MG UK’s sales and marketing boss Matthew Cheyne confirmed that he expects the E-Motion to make production around 2020 and be priced from under £30,000. With a purported 250+ mile range on a charge and a zero to sixty time in the 4-second range, the E-Motion could be a very attractive package. Of course, this will probably be another MG model that will never reach US shores. Although, at least there would be little to know emissions regulations holding things back since this vehicle will be electric. Sadly, with SAIC looking to pull all manufacturing out of Britain, this […]

The McLaren 570S GT4 has scored its first win of the season in the opening round of the 2017 British GT Championship at Oulton Park, UK. Customer team track-club, with drivers Adam Balon and Adam MacKay, took overall GT4 victory during the first of two races over the Bank Holiday weekend, as all six examples of the latest GT racing model from McLaren showed pace and reliability. From the outset of the weekend’s racing activities, the pace of the 570S GT4 looked strong. Building on the year of experience at the wheel of the track-honed McLaren Sports Series model, GT Driver Academy pairing of Ciaran Haggerty and Sandy Mitchell in the #100 Black Bull Garage 59 car secured pole position for the first race and would line up in P2 for the start of the second.