Andrew Elphick ACCORDING TO Cuban history, the official line is that Fidel Castro used this LWB Series 1 station wagon in the last throes of the revolution against Batista’s dictatorship. Not many Lode Lane products have become a monument but, after the overthrow of power (in Cuba), this one has. Additional body modifications in the [...]

Diana T. Kurylko, Automotive News Europe, 31st August, 2010 BMW plans to expand MINI’s product range in the United States in an effort to boost sales and keep dealers profitable as the brand’s U.S. network expands to 120 stores, from 86. After flying high for several years with record sales, MINI has stalled in 2010. [...]

Jon Griffin, Birmingham Post, 31st August, 2010 More than £23 million raised from the remnants of the collapsed Longbridge Phoenix empire could lie untouched for years – because of a mystery Government claim. Insolvency experts appointed to handle the liquidation of MGR Capital Limited – MG Rover’s finance and lease loan book – have now [...]

Nandini Sen Gupta, The Economic Times, 30th August, 2010 NEW DELHI: Tata Motors Limited is looking to seek help from British subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover’s engineers to build more refined passenger cars. According to a top Tata Motors official, the mother company will use expertise in design, noise and vibration and other aspects to build [...]

Autocar, 30th August, 2010 Autocar’s Autocar’s rendering of Jaguar’s new Paris Motor Show Concept car Jaguar will reveal a dramatic new sports car concept at the Paris Motor Show next month. The concept will preview a fresh styling direction and makes a fitting celebration of the company’s 75th Anniversary. Details of the still-secret car have emerged from Tata sources [...]

Alexander Boucke    I’m sure you think there must be an abandoned, dead 827 Vitesse in front of my place – given that, when I last wrote about the car around four months ago, I said that the car was so unreliable that I had simply stopped using it. But no – it’s gone. Under its own [...]

Richard Truett THE LAST thing anyone needs when they are in the middle of moving house is another old car, especially if said old car doesn’t run – and hasn’t run since the days of Reagan and Thatcher -  and yet, at the exact moment the movers were collecting boxes and relocating furniture from my [...]

Automotive News Europe/Reuters, 25th August, 2010 BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) – Top Chinese automaker SAIC Motor’s second-quarter net profit jumped 266 percent to a record high due to demand fueled by Government incentives. But a slowdown in the world’s biggest auto market has raised concerns the company faces a bumpy road ahead. Most Chinese auto groups [...]

Kev Mills  As some of you will know, I was the lucky fellow who took Keith’s Rover SD1 down to Sussex a few weeks ago for the Vintage at Goodwood festival. It was an ace event; really something else. Once I’ve gone through my pictures, I’ll make sure some come on here.  Since Goodwood, I’ve [...]

  A comprehensive K-Series engine maintenance and repair service from XPart is helping MG Rover, Lotus Elise and Caterham owners to keep their cars running for longer. The company’s nationwide network of MG Rover specialist repairers draws on its strong knowledge and experience of servicing K-Series engines together with the latest head gasket repair kits [...]

UK Business Secretary Dr. Vince Cable, Carl-Peter Forster, CEO, Tata Motors Limited and the hybrid Jaguar Limo Green concept developed with TSB funding The UK Business Secretary Dr. Vince Cable visited Jaguar Land Rover’s headquarters at Gaydon yesterday to experience at first hand a selection of the latest Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles and hear …

Words: Clive Goldthorp Photographs: Michael Callaghan Any AROnline readers who have read the mini-biographies on our Contact Us page will know that the other famous automotive ‘AR’, Alfa Romeo, has a place in my heart. The Alfa Romeo and BMC>MG stories share a number of interesting historical parallels: the companies were both Government-owned for significant [...]

Keith Adams Suddenly, it all becomes clear. What am I talking about? Why Alan Partridge traded in his Rover for a Lexus… I jest, of course, but it seems timely that I should get my hands on Lexus GB’s 1990 LS400 on the same day that I upload the story of Jaguar’s exciting AJV8 engine [...]

Andrew Elphick  We were wrong – Scrappage didn’t wipe out the smokey Jaguar. Trainee Publicans across the nation rejoice!  Admittedly sub-£1000 bangers are getting thin on the ground today, but gems like this Jaguar XJ still appear every now and then. What’s not to like? Nine months’ MoT, XKR alloy wheels (and, rather strangely, two [...]

Keith Adams  AFTER A WEEK spent in France – relaxing and unwinding – I can officially say that British cars look cooler over there than in their homeland. Admittedly, spotting a Rover in France these days is no longer a frequent occurrence but there are still enough around to make that judgement.  Maybe it’s the ‘plates – [...]

Automotive News Europe/Bloomberg, 19th August, 2010 MUMBAI (Bloomberg) – Tata Motors Limited, the owner of Jaguar and Land Rover, has hired Credit Suisse Group AG and Citigroup Inc. to raise as much as $1 billion from selling securities, two people with knowledge of the matter said. The carmaker may tap capital markets in the next [...]

Automotive News Europe/Reuters, 18th August, 2010 SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – General Motors Co. and China’s SAIC Motor Corp. deepened their ties to include the joint development of small engines and transmissions as the U.S. automaker seeks to draw on the allure of the fast-growing China market ahead of a highly anticipated IPO. The agreement, announced by [...]

MG enthusiasts can now join two of the world’s biggest social network websites and stay up to date with all MG Motor UK Limited’s promotional activity in the build-up the launch of the new MG6 – the first all-new MG since the MG F  was announced fifteen years ago. The Birmingham-based company has today opened pages on [...]

David Evans, Rallies Editor, Autosport, 17th August, 2010 Prodrive Chairman David Richards says the firm’s MINI World Rally Car project will be used to develop the next generation of staff at the Banbury factory. While many members of the team which established Prodrive and Subaru in the World Rally Championship 21 years ago remains, Richards [...]

Clive Goldthorp AROnline’s regular readers may recall that, back on the 28th May, 2010, Tata Motors Limited’s CEO, Carl-Peter Forster, said that Jaguar Land Rover “will need to manufacture at least two models in China. We’ll take one to two years to set it up but, first, we will need a partner.” Little in the [...]