Autocar February 06, 2019

IT’S RARE FOR a car maker to reverse launch plans for a model already confirmed for production but Land Rover has done just that in axing the Range Rover SV Coupé. While a loss of face is inevitable, the decision is actually a very confident and positive one. A two-door Range Rover limited to 999 units (if Land Rover could find the buyers…) and priced at £240,000 might bring some marginal short-term financial gain but, with budgets squeezed and Jaguar Land Rover facing serious challenges, this isn’t what it needs for the fight in which it is now engaged. The car was a distraction, its unique body (only the bonnet and part of the tailgate were shared with the standard Range Rover) taking engineering and company resources away from Land Rover when…

“1 Series customers are more concerned with interior versatility than outright driving dynamics” BMW is getting ready to launch a radically re-engineered 1 Series hatchback, which is planned to go on sale in the UK in September following a public premiere at the Frankfurt motor show this year. A comprehensive under-the-skin revamp will see the third-generation model forgo traditional rear-wheel drive for a space-saving front-wheel-drive layout adopting the German car maker’s new FAAR platform. The versatile high-strength steel structure is already used by the latest BMW X1 and its mechanically identical sibling, the second-generation Mini Countryman. The switch to front-wheel drive for the entry-level BMW comes 15 years after the original rear-wheel-drive 1 Series was launched in 2004. BMW’s internal studies have revealed that existing 1 Series customers are more concerned with factors such…

IT’S RARE FOR a car maker to reverse launch plans for a model already confirmed for production but Land Rover has done just that in axing the Range Rover SV Coupé. While a loss of face is inevitable, the decision is actually a very confident and positive one. A two-door Range Rover limited to 999 units (if Land Rover could find the buyers…) and priced at £240,000 might bring some marginal short-term financial gain but, with budgets squeezed and Jaguar Land Rover facing serious challenges, this isn’t what it needs for the fight in which it is now engaged. The car was a distraction, its unique body (only the bonnet and part of the tailgate were shared with the standard Range Rover) taking engineering and company resources away from Land…

It’s looking likely that Brexit will go down to the wire and BMW is one of a number of UK-based car makers that has brought forward its summer shutdown to the end of March in case the UK leaves the EU without a formal deal. However, Autocar has heard two separately sourced suggestions that this move at Plant Oxford could be part of the preparation for a significant reshuffle of its output over the next few years. The first hint was that BMW’s number-crunchers – enabled by the data generated from the company’s many thousands of PCP-financed Mini sales – are expecting a noticeable downturn in UK demand for the entry-level Mini hatchbacks, possibly as early as this summer. The second hint is that BMW may consider building the new 1 Series hatchback…

Aston Martin is to preview the second model in its reborn Lagonda range with the All-Terrain Concept at the upcoming Geneva motor show. The SUV, which will rival the Rolls-Royce Cullinan, follows the launch of the Lagonda Vision saloon concept in Geneva last year. The Vision relaunched Lagonda as a maker of high-tech luxury cars featuring all-electric power and arresting design that makes use of the packaging advantages of EVs. The SUV is understood to be closely related to the saloon in its footprint, architecture, interior, chassis and powertrain technology. It’s an example of the ‘carry over, carry across’ methodology of Aston boss Andy Palmer, under which models share as many components as possible to reduce development costs. Although Aston didn’t confirm the precise technical details of the Vision, it’s understood each axle…

“1 Series customers are more concerned with interior versatility than outright driving dynamics” BMW is getting ready to launch a radically re-engineered 1 Series hatchback, which is planned to go on sale in the UK in September following a public premiere at the Frankfurt motor show this year. A comprehensive under-the-skin revamp will see the third-generation model forgo traditional rear-wheel drive for a space-saving front-wheel-drive layout adopting the German car maker’s new FAAR platform. The versatile high-strength steel structure is already used by the latest BMW X1 and its mechanically identical sibling, the second-generation Mini Countryman. The switch to front-wheel drive for the entry-level BMW comes 15 years after the original rear-wheel-drive 1 Series was launched in 2004. BMW’s internal studies have revealed that existing 1 Series customers are more…