Latest news with #Autocar
Motor 1
3 hours ago
- Automotive
- Motor 1
JLR CEO Suddenly Retires Ahead of Jaguar's Big Relaunch
Adrian Mardell, the man who turned Jaguar Land Rover into, simply, JLR, and put in place a strategy to market Range Rover, Defender, and Discovery as their own brands is retiring. Autocar reported Thursday that Mardell is stepping away after two years on the job , and JLR hasn't yet announced a successor. Mardell joined JLR in 1990 and became chief financial officer of the company in 2018. He took over the top job after his predecessor, Thierry Bolloré, resigned in 2023. As Autocar points out, Mardell helped JLR become profitable after a few rough years during the Covid-19 pandemic, but his departure comes at a critical time for the company. Jaguar unveiled a rebrand as a high-end EV maker last year with a campaign that was widely mocked. The brand has also stopped production of all previous models in anticipation of a new $100,000-plus electric cars that will arrive into a market that seems to be rejecting luxury EVs. Jaguar is moving into a bold new direction, and it's future is anything but certain. Things are better over at Land Rover thanks to the continued success and profitability of Range Rover and Defender models. But, Range Rover is set to launch its first EV , and it's already been delayed until next year over apparently weak demand. There's also tariffs to contend with. The US has 10-percent duty on the first 100,000 UK cars exported to the US in any given year, which is lower than the duties on cars from any other country. But, the Defender and Discovery are built in Slovakia, which is subject to a 15-percent tariff. In some ways, Mardell leaves JLR better than he found it. But, it faces many of the same challenges all automakers face right now and its own unique set of uncertainties. Mardell's successor will be very busy. More on JLR The New Jaguar Is 'All About Exuberance' Range Rover's New Logo Is Goofy As Hell Get the best news, reviews, columns, and more delivered straight to your inbox, daily. back Sign up For more information, read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use . Share this Story Facebook X LinkedIn Flipboard Reddit WhatsApp E-Mail Got a tip for us? Email: tips@ Join the conversation ( )
Auto Car
17 hours ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
Maserati could add plug-in hybrid power to its line-up - and one model could make a stunning PHEV comeback...
Tie-up with Alfa Romeo could add PHEVs to Maserati range – potentially saving the Quattroporte Next Alfa Giulia could provide the basis for a next-generation Quattroporte Close Maserati is considering adding plug-in hybrid powertrains to its line-up as it bridges the gap between ICE and EV power - and a next-gen Quattroporte hybrid is tipped to be among the new electrified models. Currently the firm has three powertrain types spread across its three model lines: pure-V6, mild-hybrid turbo four-cylinder, and pure-electric. But CEO Santo Ficili told Autocar the company needs to offer its customers 'all the possibilities' of propulsion as it gears up to go electric. "What's sure is that we need to talk with our customers, because they are a bit confused at this time,' he said. 'You can imagine: PHEV, BEV, mild hybrid… We need to stay in touch with our customers.' Ficili added: 'I don't know when we will go totally BEV. For sure in the future, but I don't know when automotive will go in this direction. It's a question of timing. In the middle, we need to consider MHEV and PHEV engines, depending on the development of the technology we want to follow.' Maserati's current cars are based on platforms that would not readily accommodate plug-in hybrid powertrains, but sibling brand Alfa Romeo is poised to launch a new Stelvio SUV (below) and Giulia saloon on Stellantis's new STLA Large platform, which can accommodate ICE, EV and hybrid drivetrains. Ficili suggested that Maserati would also use the flexible STLA structure for future models and said a push for 'synergies' between the two Italian manufacturers could mean their cars become more closely related. That opens the door for the next Giulia and Stelvio to provide the basis for a new Quattroporte and Levante respectively, with the choice of EV and hybrid power. Maserati was due to launch a new Quattroporte saloon this year as its first electric-only model, but last year it announced the seventh-generation car had been pushed back to 2028 due to 'the need to take zero risks on the performance level'. Development is understood to have been roughly half complete. Twinning the next Quattroporte with the new Giulia, which is due next year as a BMW 5 Series rival with EV and ICE options, could speed up the development of Maserati's saloon, with R&D costs drastically reduced as a result. Similarly, if Maserati tapped the next Stelvio to provide the basis for a second-generation Levante, it could quickly re-enter the popular sports SUV market and offer the same choice of petrol and EV power as the big-selling Porsche Cayenne. Ficili added there was a need 'to keep the two brands separated' in terms of positioning, but there were opportunities for the two to share 'platforms, electronic architectures, software and probably powertrains'. He stopped short of confirming plans to align the two brands' line-ups more closely, but did hint that the two firms would collaborate on a pair of ultra-exclusive supercar flagship models next year, which are likely to use a high-output pure-ICE powertrain and a manual gearbox. Join our WhatsApp community and be the first to read about the latest news and reviews wowing the car world. Our community is the best, easiest and most direct place to tap into the minds of Autocar, and if you join you'll also be treated to unique WhatsApp content. You can leave at any time after joining - check our full privacy policy here.
Auto Car
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
WATCH: Lotus Evija review
Close This is the Lotus Evija and in the near 100 years that Autocar has been fixing timing gear to cars to see how fast they'll go, no car has ever accelerated as quickly as this. Lotus's £2m, 2013bhp electric hypercar is astonishingly fast. Unlike most EVs, which accelerate quickly from rest and then run out of puff, once the Evija gets going, it just keeps going. And going. How fast? It reaches 200mph almost ten seconds quicker than a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. It takes less than half the time of a McLaren F1. Over a standing kilometre, where the incredibly rapid Lamborghini Revuelto will reach 186mph, the Evija reaches its top speed ... of 217mph. What does this acceleration look and feel like? And, once you get your head around the acceleration, just what is this hypercar like to drive? Join Matt Prior at Lotus's test track for the answers in our video by clicking above.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
WATCH: Lotus Evija review Our fastest ever road test
This is the Lotus Evija and in the near 100 years that Autocar has been fixing timing gear to cars to see how fast they'll go, no car has ever accelerated as quickly as this. Lotus's £2m, 2013bhp electric hypercar is astonishingly fast. Unlike most EVs, which accelerate quickly from rest and then run out of puff, once the Evija gets going, it just keeps going. And going. How fast? It reaches 200mph almost ten seconds quicker than a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport. It takes less than half the time of a McLaren F1. Over a standing kilometre, where the incredibly rapid Lamborghini Revuelto will reach 186mph, the Evija reaches its top speed ... of 217mph. What does this acceleration look and feel like? And, once you get your head around the acceleration, just what is this hypercar like to drive? Join Matt Prior at Lotus's test track for the answers in our video by clicking above. ]]>
Auto Car
2 days ago
- Automotive
- Auto Car
This ELECTRIC car just ripped up Autocar's road test record book - it leaves the McLaren F1 for dust!
The Lotus Evija hypercar - at the time of its announcement, the most powerful road-legal car to enter series production - has set a series of new searing performance benchmarks as part of its full Autocar Road Test. First shown to the world in 2019, with deliveries to customers beginning in 2024, the Evija has swept all before it among yardsticks for acceleration particular to higher speed ranges. It is now the quickest car recorded in Autocar's annals of road test performance figures, which themselves date back more than a century, when measured from standing to 150mph; and to 200mph; and over both a standing quarter-mile and kilometre. Moreover, the margin of its dominance in at least three of those four measurements is monumentally large. 'The Evija's acceleration feels fast, but less exceptionally so through both 60- and 100mph,' said Autocar Road Test Editor Matt Saunders. 'But the extraordinary potency of its four electric motors, combined with the car's improving capacity to put that power down as downforce builds on its body, makes it downright staggering to experience beyond 100mph.' 'From 100- to 150mph, it's almost three seconds faster than any other hypercar we've ever figured; from 150- to 200-, more like five seconds. It can accelerate from 150- to 180mph in the same time (2.7sec) that it takes a BMW M4 CS to get from 60- to 90-.' The Evija becomes only the third road-legal production car that Autocar has tested all the way to 200mph; which it cleared leaving plenty of room for braking within a measured mile. 'We habitually figure cars over a standing kilometre as part of our road test benchmarking, in order that we've always got some safety margin' Saunders continued. 'It's rare, but not unknown, for road-legal cars to be doing more than 180mph at that point. But the Evija went past the kilometre marker at fully 217.4mph, already straining against its electronic speed limiter.' Autocar's landmark ten-page road test of the £2mil, 2013bhp Evija is in the 30th July print issue of Autocar, on newsagents' shelves today, which is also available in digital form here.
