Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Rolls-Royce plc are two completely and distinctly different companies. The two companies branched in 1998 after BMW licensed the rights to the Rolls-Royce brand name and logo from Rolls-Royce plc and acquired the rights to the Spirit of Ecstasy emblem and Rolls-Royce grill shape trademarks from Volkswagen AG. Rolls-Royce plc is a British multinational public limited company incorporated in February 2011 that owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for aviation and other industries.  Clear as mud? Now that the groundwork is out of the way, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars issued a statement today clarifying their financial standing. This was issued after Rolls-Royce plc that it is scrapping thousands of white-collar posts at the jet-engine giant in a bid to redress the balance and unleash the potential of an 80 billion-pound […]

Europe’s leading entertainment company Sky has signed an agreement with Aston Martin Lagonda and its motorsport division – Aston Martin Racing – to become the British marque’s official UK media partner. The announcement comes ahead of this weekend’s showpiece endurance race, the 2018 24 Hours of Le Mans. This exciting new partnership brings together two quintessentially British success stories to collaborate and forge a range of creative content together that focusses on both Aston Martin Racing’s motorsport activities in the FIA World Endurance Championship, and Aston Martin Lagonda’s growth under its second-century business plan. 

The next new McLaren is just two weeks away from being revealed online ahead of a public debut at the UK’s 2018 Goodwood Festival of Speed. To keep the world guessing, a second, tantalizing image has been released revealing a pair of formidable top-exit exhausts. This follows the issue last week of a partial view of its dramatic rear. The car, which will be driven up the famous Goodwood Hill Climb for the first time on Thursday, July 12, will be the fifth model to be announced under McLaren’s Track22 business plan. It will benefit from increased power, minimized weight, optimized aerodynamics, and enhanced driver engagement. It will also deliver track-focused dynamics. And like the McLaren Senna, the most recent model revealed by the Woking-based company, it will be limited to the few. The wait to learn more will be […]

As Aston Martin returns to Le Mans to defend its 2017 victory at the iconic 24-hour race, so the latest car in the exciting new AMR stable has been unveiled. Following hot on the heels of the DB11 AMR, Aston Martin has revealed the limited edition Rapide AMR. This production version of the concept shown at Geneva last year is limited to just 210 cars. AMR stands for Aston Martin Racing and the brand draws a direct engineering and aesthetic link between the company’s successful race team and its road cars. As such the Rapide AMR is a sports car capable of comfortably transporting a team of race drivers to a circuit on the other side of a continent and then tackling the track when they get there.

Two Series 1 E-type Jaguars were the top sellers at Barons’ British Heritage, Classic & Sports Cars sale at Sandown Park on June 5th. Barons had a really strong entry for the sale and, by the time the hammer fell for the final time, 65% of the 65 cars on offer had found new homes. The well-presented Old English white 1962 3.8 roadster selling for over top estimate at £99,000, while the opalescent blue 1964 4.2 FHC achieved £86,820.

Andreas Bareis has been appointed as Vehicle Line Director of McLaren Automotive’s Super Series product family. He will take up his position in July and will report directly to Chief Operating Officer Dr. Jens Ludmann. Andreas will be responsible for managing the development of the second generation of McLaren’s Super Series, the core of the British manufacturer’s range of sports cars and supercars, which began with the 12C and today includes the 720S. His responsibilities will include taking product developments from idea and concept through to development and testing, then on to market introduction.

MINI USA announced today that the 2019 MINI Hardtop 2 Door has earned a “2018 Top Safety Pick” award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). The MINI Hardtop earns this designation when equipped with Active Driving Assistant and newly available LED headlights. The 2019 MINI Hardtop 2 Door received a “Good” rating across a wide range of crashworthiness tests, including “driver-side small overlap front”, “moderate overlap front”, “side, roof strength” and “head restraint” tests.

The record-breaking Jaguar E-PACE is now even more connected and comfortable. New updates for the sporty compact SUV include ‘self-learning’ Smart Settings technology, an Adaptive Dynamics suspension set-up and a cost-effective and efficient 200PS petrol engine. Launched spectacularly with the world’s furthest barrel roll by a production car, E-PACE has already achieved strong sales in a highly competitive segment and won a string of awards, including being named as BBC TopGear Magazine’s 2017 ‘Crossover of the Year’. It’s now even more appealing and affordable with a raft of new features available.

Aston Martin Racing returns to the scene of its famous 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours triumph with the all-new Aston Martin Vantage GTE, which makes its first competitive appearance on the legendary Circuit de la Sarthe this weekend (16-17 June). A year on from Jonny Adam’s dramatic late pass for the lead of the GTE Pro category that led to a glorious win for Aston Martin Racing, the team has entered two new Vantage GTEs in the 2018 event. Based on the critically-acclaimed Aston Martin Vantage road car and powered by the same 4.0-litre, V8 turbo-charged engine optimized by AMR, the Vantage GTEs are part of a 17-strong GTE Pro line-up that represents the most competitive field ever assembled for the class.

Father’s Day is coming up soon, next Sunday, June 17 to be exact. So, I thought that I might give you a few ideas of things to get the car-loving father in your life. And if you yourself happen to be that car-loving dad, well then feel free to pass this list along to your kids. Or, as one car-loving dad to another, I give you complete and utter permission to go pick up something for yourself. Go ahead, you know you deserve it. First of all, how about a couple of Union Jack beach towels. I keep two of these things in the car at all times and they are great. Don’t go to the beach a lot? Well, that is fine. I use mine to cover my hot seats. I also use them to cover the dash or […]

Bentley’s second-generation Continental GT3 claimed its maiden podium on Saturday night (2 June) with Bentley Team M-Sport, thanks to a faultless performance from drivers Steven Kane (GB), Jules Gounon (FR) and Jordan Pepper (ZA) at the Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup Paul Ricard 1000km in France. The results came in only the third race for Bentley’s new 2018 Continental GT3, in the first real test of its endurance credentials ahead of next month’s blue riband Spa 24 Hours.

For the 2018 the New England British Reliability Run we will be touring the many small harbors along the New Hampshire & Maine coast in search of lighthouses and delicious “Homarus Americanus” (lobsters!). You can expect beautiful views of the coast as we motor on back roads through historic villages, some dating back to the 1600’s! Never far from the ocean, we will have ample opportunities to see & visit famous lighthouses that protect the harbors of New Hampshire and Maine, some that have stood guard from before the Revolution! Of course, being so near to the sea, there is much more than lighthouses to look forward to…did I mention the lobsters? I’m not at all certain there isn’t a better combination than crisp fall weather, the smell of the ocean and the taste of a lobster tail dripping with […]

The 23rd Annual Greenwich Concours d’Elegance held on June 1-3 at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park in Greenwich, Conn., saw more than 13,000 people pass through its gates to view an array of significant collector cars. Overlooking Greenwich Harbor on Long Island Sound, domestic marques were displayed on Saturday, imports on Sunday. Featured this year on both days were the cars of the late Briggs Cunningham. Of the 35 remaining Cunningham-built cars, 33 were on the field, along with five Cunningham team race cars, four continuation cars, and Cunningham’s personal 1955 Thunderbird. This was the largest display of Cunningham cars ever assembled in one location.

MG Motor is set to debut in India in the first half of 2019 with a brand new SUV. What we know so far about the unnamed SUV is that it will be a “full SUV”, meaning it won’t be a compact product like the Hyundai Creta or the Renault Duster. While MG has not yet revealed whether the SUV will be a 5-seater or a 7, we know that it will go up against the Jeep Compass, which is a 5-seater; will be bigger than the Creta; and start from Rs 15.35 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi), about $23,000 USD. There were earlier rumors that the MG SUV will share its diesel engine with the Compass. Now, MG’s president and managing director, Rajeev Chaba, has confirmed to us that the first MG SUV will get the 2.0-litre diesel engine of the […]

Aston Martin President and CEO Dr Andy Palmer has been presented with a prestigious L.E.A.D.E.R. award at the Automotive News Europe Congress dinner. The L.E.A.D.E.R. award stands for Leaders in European Automotive Development, Excellence, and Research. The annual L.E.A.D.E.R. award recognizes those in the industry who exemplify product development, achievements, and dedication to the European automotive sector.

MG Motor UK has continued to achieve growing sales figures throughout the month of May. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) revealed results confirming that MG continues to outperform the new car market with a year-to-date volume increase of 103% compared with the first five months of 2017. MG more than doubled its registrations in May compared to the same period last year, keeping the brand on course to meet its ambitious sales target. May’s impressive growth was led by the all-new MG ZS compact SUV. The UK’s best value-for-money SUV, the MG ZS starts from just £12,495, includes a 7-year manufacturer warranty and is available on a 5-year, 0% finance deal.

Our Video of the Week for this first week of June features another, and first of the well known, designs that took place under the leadership of Alec Issigonis.  This is the story of the Morris Minor. Over one-and-a-half million Minors were produced between 1948 and 1972. Initially available only as a two-door saloon and convertible, the range was quickly expanded to include a four-door saloon in 1950, a wood-framed estate (the Traveller) in October 1953, and panel van and pick-up truck variants from May of 1953. It was the first British car to sell over one million units and is considered a classic example of automotive design, as well as typifying “Englishness”. Eric Lord, the director of Morris Motors, said that Lord Nuffield thought that the new Morris Minor looked like a poached egg and that the car was narrow […]

Land Rover has addressed the needs of a remote Scottish island in a move that could save lives. As part of its 70th anniversary year of activity, Land Rover sent a team of expert Experience drivers and volunteers to Mull in a fleet of Land Rovers to deliver unique three-word address plaques from what3words to 2,000 properties on the island, many of which are in isolated areas. What3words is a British technology company that has divided the globe into a grid of 57 trillion 3m x 3m squares, each with a unique, easy-to-remember three-word address searchable via an app that even works offline.