Author: zqdbe (Page 2 of 17)

Jaguar Land Rover has announced a huge £1.5bn investment in its UK operations to fund the creation of an onslaught of new models over the coming years.
And the company intends to employ an additional 1,700 staff at its Solihull site to cope with the expansion, taking the number of UK manufacturing jobs announced by Jaguar Land Rover over the last three years to close to 11,000.
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The firm’s ambitious plans include the launch of a compact executive model to rival the BMW 3 series and a production version of the C-X17 SUV concept unveiled at the Frankfurt motor show – but that will just be the start.
Jaguar Land Rover has developed an all-new lightweight aluminium architecture that is modular and scalable, giving it a platform from which to efficiently and economically develop a range of new models. So you can expect to see both brands rapidly expand their ranges to match German rivals like Audi, BMW and Mercedes.
Jaguar Land Rover CEO Dr. Ralf Speth said: “Today’s announcement signals Jaguar Land Rover’s ambitions to push the boundaries and redefine premium car ownership.
“At Jaguar Land Rover we place the customer at the heart of everything we do and the introduction of a world class all-new aluminium automobile architecture indicates we will be a lot more competitive, flexible and efficient delivering exciting new products for our customers around the world.”
The Jaguar 3 series rival will be the first model built using the new platform, and the firm is promising it will be the most efficient and advanced car in the compact executive class.
It will also be the first Jaguar Land Rover automobile to feature an engine built at the firm’s new £500m engine manufacturing centre.

This is the new Volkswagen California beach 6.1 campervan. It’s based on the recently updated Transporter and will follow the new Caddy California into the showroom later this month, sporting a similar range of outdoorsy accessories. prices start from £52,062 excluding VAT – and first deliveries are expected to arrive in March 2021.
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Full specifications for the new California beach 6.1 have not been confirmed, although Volkswagen has announced that buyers will be used a choice of two versions, called excursion and Camper. 

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Standard equipment for the will include 17-inch alloy wheels, a manual pop-up roof, interior seating for five, a DAB radio and a camping table with two folding chairs. Both variants will also come with a pair of revolving front seats and a ‘rock-and-roll’ rear bench seat that folds flat into a bed.
In addition to this, the excursion model will feature a pair of sliding rear doors and the option to spec seating for either six or seven. 
The Camper variant is targeted, rather unsurprisingly, at avid campers – and so comes with a single gas hob and a pull-out awning.
The California 6.1 range will be powered by the Volkswagen Group’s familiar turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel engine, which has an output of 148bhp and 340Nm of torque. like the panel van variant, the unit will send drive to the front wheels by means of a seven speed automatic gearbox.
Further details including a lot more thorough specifications, options and prices will be announced later this month.
What do you make of the new Volkswagen California 6.1? let us know in the comments section below…

The government is proposing a new set of rules for young drivers, in an attempt to enhance road security as well as assist cut insurance coverage premiums.
Among the new rules is a minimum discovering period for drivers before they are permitted to sit their test, which is expected to be around one year. This means that drivers will have to wait up until they’re 18 before being a completely qualified driver.
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However, one more concept currently being thought about by ministers is to decrease the age at which people can begin to discover to 16 or 16 as well as six months, with the minimum discovering period taking them to 17 or 17 as well as a half.
During the discovering process, the government likewise wants drivers to take lessons on motorways, during adverse weather condition conditions as well as even when it’s dark for more genuine world learning.
The actual driving test might likewise be provided a revamp to make it more extensive as well as much better prepare learners to drive on their own.
Once a driver has passed their test, the government wishes to prolong the probationary period of drivers having their licences revoked if they get six or more points from two to three years.
Finally, young drivers will be offered incentives, in the type of insurance coverage discounts, to take extra training after they’ve passed.
With 17-24 year olds included in 25 per cent of death as well as serious injuries on the roads, ministers are hoping the modifications might assist reduce this number. on the other hand the typical annual insurance coverage premium for an 18 year old is currently £1,853.
Do you believe drivers should have to wait up until they are 18 before being completely qualified? Or should people be enabled to begin discovering at 16? let us understand in the comments below.

The Renault Twin’Run concept, a car developed to be a spiritual successor to the R5 Turbo and Clio V6, has been unveiled at the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. (Click to Tweet)
Sharing the same funky city car styling cues as the Twin’Z electric car concept that was revealed in April, the Twin’Run is a very different propostion. rather than an environmentally friendly set of batteries, it is packing a mid-mounted 316bhp V6 petrol engine and a raft of motorsport technology that is developed as a hint towards the next-generation Twingo RS.
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That engine – which is still used in the Laguna and Espace in de-tuned form in Europe – drives the rear wheels and combines with a tubular steel chassis borrowed from the Megane Trophy racer and lightweight fibre glass bodywork for a kerbweight of just 950kgs. All that implies the Twin’Run can accelerate from 0-62mph in just 4.5 seconds and go on to reach a top speed of 155mph.
The major mechanicals for the concept are all taken straight from the world of racing, with a six-speed sequential gearbox, rally-style welded handbrake lever, huge brakes and a limited-slip differential at the back to improve cornering balance. It also sits on huge 18-inch alloy wheels that are pushed best to the each corner of this compact car.

If volume dictated matters, the undisputed star of this year’s Detroit motor show was the new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray.
In front of a rapturous crowd of patriotic media, market types as well as portly rednecks, the new-for-2013 C7 was revealed in a building the size of Belgium next to one of the lots of post-apocalyptic areas of Detroit that skirt its city centre.
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To these eyes it appeared like a lot more of the same, however they liked it as well as expressed their interest in that a lot of American of methods – hollering as well as whooping as well as wanting to get their photo taken next to it. It was extremely Detroit.
But across town on the exact same evening was an event of a lot more workable proportions however of far higher relevance to us in the UK, as well as the market as a whole.
The Volkswagen group reception served as a event celebration of a record year in 2012. Startling figures were trotted out in a matter of truth style by the bosses of VW, Audi as well as Porsche as well as need to have sounded extremely ominous undoubtedly for other manufacturers.
9.1million sales around the world in 2012 (behind only Toyota as well as GM). VW up 35 per cent in the US. Audi targeting 1.5million globally a year by 2015, up from 1.45m at present, as well as meaning to overtake BMW as the greatest premium brand by 2020. Porsche sales up 18.7 per cent last year worldwide.
Once a bit-part player in the US, VW’s multi-billion dollar investment in north america is paying off handsomely. Yet one more new factory opened this week – in Silao, Mexico – as well as the juggernaut shows no indication of slowing down.
Strategic targeting of the us market is making it stronger as well as stronger across the world. however amid all the fanfare, one concern of mine VW CEO Martin Winterkorn didn’t want to response directly was what all this indicated for rivals.
In Europe, in particular, a number of makers are having a hard time terribly as a lot of of the VW group brands go from stamina from strength. Excess production as well as prospective closure of factories are a genuine problem.
But as his final statement of a triumphant night, Winterkorn deadpanned: “What competitors are doing with overcapacity I don’t know. however we are not cutting back.”

So it’s full heavy steam ahead, then. On a night when America loudly hailed one of its own automotive heroes, I can’t assist feeling that this – as well as not the Corvette’s coronation as king of Detroit 2013 – will be a lot more considerable in the long run.

finally – some solid, independent and functional specialist evidence for individuals and companies wondering whether to get or lease diesel cars.
In short, the unbiased testimony goes like this: in real-world conditions, some mid-sized to large diesel cars are, all things considered (including the hated NOx emissions), still among the cleanest, a lot of fuel-efficient and least environmentally-hostile automobiles around. They’re at least as green as equivalent petrol models.
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• the best low emissions green cars
Therefore motorists can, with a clear conscience, purchase and use them – even a few ‘monsters’ that have 3.0 or 4.0-litre engines plus four-wheel drive. who says? Nick Molden, CEO of Emissions Analytics.
This is a firm that monitors and analyses real-world emissions from vehicles. It’s not working on behalf of the ecomental industry, the State, society of motor makers and Traders or other elements of the car establishment which – led by a “cheating” Volkswagen – has often issued bum steers on the efficiency and cleanliness of diesels.
Molden has no axe to grind. He occupies small but crucial neutral ground on the fringe of the industry and admits he’d “absolutely” get a diesel car. This unapologetic endorsement is hugely significant – not least because he commands the attention of politicians, civil servants and others who have occasionally seemed hell bent on restricting, fining or banning such humble family vehicles.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan recently alleged the capital’s air is “lethal”. Thankfully, Molden is now encouraging and educating Khan on the truth about such vehicles. The Mayor has been handed the irrefutable proof  that some of them are so damn squeaky clean, green and lean that they’ve earned top scores in Molden’s genuinely unbiased EQUA Index.
These A-rated diesels are 1.6-litre versions of the VW Passat (2016) and Touran (’16); the 2.0 Audi A5 (’14) and Q2 (’16); BMW 3 series (’13); Mercedes E-Class (’16); tiny (’15); SEAT Alhambra (’15); Skoda superb (’16); plus VW Golf SV (’15); Scirocco (’15); and Tiguan AWD (’16); the 3.0 BMW 5 series (’16); and the 4.0 Porsche Panamera AWD (’16).
How can the Mayor and other politicians justify restricting such fine diesel cars? They’re independently rated as being among the most efficient and environmentally sound automobiles on our roads. Period.

What do you think of Mike’s view? let us know in the comments below…

Zero emissions makes the Tesla design 3 a excellent compact executive saloon, as we’ve already seen, however Tesla started life making EVs – as well as after an preliminary foray with a sports car, excellent EVs at that.
Now with three designs on sale as well as a number of future cars and trucks that it’s continually teasing to titillate its share cost as well as excite prospective new clients alike, the us tech business as well as its star owner, Elon Musk, may be divisive, however there is no rejecting the engineering in its products makes them excellent electric vehicles. Which is why, for the second year running, the design 3 is our preferred premium EV.

Tesla design 3 review

Tesla stole a march on the huge German three – Audi, BMW as well as Mercedes – as well as required its premium rivals to play catch-up. Yet we still haven’t seen a product from any type of of these brands that betters Tesla’s efforts.
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Part of the reason for that is since electric cars and trucks depend massively on infrastructure. It’s a delicate topic that’s intertwined with politics, however Tesla has bypassed a great deal of this by continuing to set up much more of its Supercharger points across the UK as well as the rest of the world.
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With fast recharge ability of as much as 250kW, which can add variety at as much as 500 miles per hour of charging at its top rate, no other premium electric cars and truck can get close to our champion – unless it’s one more Tesla.

The Toyota GT 86 is our reigning performance vehicle of the Year. however the Japanese firm’s race department, Gazoo Racing, has decided that Toyota’s coupe has more performance prospective to exploit.
The result is the GRMN FR sports idea Platinum, which will make its public debut at the Tokyo auto salon later this month. It’s powered by the exact same 2.0-litre flat-four engine, however Gazoo has added a supercharger as well as a turbocharger to boost the engine’s power from 197bhp to 325bhp, as well as torque from 205Nm to 431Nm.
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Complimenting the engine’s increased power is a sports exhaust, 18-inch alloys – which hide lowered, uprated suspension as well as bigger brakes – as well as a mechanical LSD.
The GRMN FR sports idea Platinum has likewise got a makeover with new LED lights front as well as rear, a big rear wing, new front bumper as well as flared wheelarches, which boost the GT 86’s track from 1,775mm to 1,855mm.
Inside, there are white container seats with four-point harnesses, a roll cage as well as some additional dials.
Toyota has not yet released performance details for the FR sports idea Platinum, however as it features significantly more power as well as torque, as well as tips the scales at 1,280kg – 5kg more than the basic vehicle – it should quickly eclipse the routine GT 86’s 0-62mph time of 7.6 seconds and 140mph top speed.
The GRMN FR sports idea Platinum will take centre stage on Toyota’s stand at the Tokyo auto Salon, which runs from 11 to 13 January. Toyota will show four other GT 86s tuned by Toyota’s original accessory department, Toyota-affiliated racing team Tom’s, Toyota Racing Developments, as well as tuner Modellista.