British car guide WhatCar? has announced its 2008 car of the year awards. The categories range from supermini to performance, and every class in-between. Throughout the results common themes are apparent. No matter what type of vehicle they are looking for, British consumers are in need of everyday practicality along with fuel economy. Practicality comes in the form of tight packages that do not sacrifice storage space or good handling characteristics. Fuel economy comes in the form of small diesel engines powering almost every vehicle on the list. WhatCar? also seems to have a bit of a bias towards makes with British heritage. It named the Jaguar XF 2.7D V6 Luxury their overall 2008 Car of the Year. The Jag was also the winner of the executive car category. They noted that the car’s classic refined Jaguar design mixed with modern details is what won them over.
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. […]
New Cars
Jaguar XF
With the launch of the XF sedan and the deletion of the S-Type and X-Type from its U.S. lineup, Jaguar now offers cars in America powered only by V8 engines. The XF’s hard points come from the S-Type, which it replaces. But Jaguar is using the V8 engines, suspension, subframes, six-speed transmission, propeller shaft and differential from the upmarket XJ sedan and XK sports car. Despite all the parts scrounging, the XF has little in common with the rest of the Jaguar lineup or its predecessor. This could be the car that carries Jaguar into the modern age and out of the wood-and-leather ghetto. Staff
Jaguar
Jaguar Launches AWD in North America
Jaguar has launched an all-wheel-drive version of its XF and XJ models in North America in the hope that the extreme weather conditions characteristic of the region’s “snow states” will drive demand. The luxury carmaker, part of the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) group, chose the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, New York, to put the AWD ehicles on display to the public yesterday. “The cars will be perfectly set up for the extremes of weather that can hit this part of the world,” said Andy Goss, the President of Jaguar Land Rover in North America. “When it snows here it snows. We need to have products that are technically capable of coping with extreme weather conditions.” Read further details on The Telegraph Staff