JustBritish

The 1,000bhp club has a new member – and it’s British! With 1,500bhp, the Keating TKR delivers even more power than the Bugatti Veyron supercar.

The mid-engined two-seater is designed solely for track use. But don’t panic, as there is a roadgoing model, too. The latter is called the SKR, and looks the same as its more powerful stablemate. It’s available with a choice of four engines, offering outputs ranging from 404bhp to 656bhp. The fastest street-legal car does 0-60mph in 3.5 seconds and can hit 205mph.

All models use the same General Motors-derived 6.0 and 7.0-litre V8s, and engineers have used superchargers and twin-turbos to boost power.

The Keating’s sleek lines, tall rear spoiler and air vents look as if they are straight from the race track. And with a bespoke steel spaceframe chassis and fibreglass bodywork, it’s light, too.

As the firm, based in Astley, Greater Manchester, builds cars only in low volumes, there is enormous scope for owners to personalise their model from a huge line-up of options. This includes everything from carbon fibre body panels to a complete chassis, and also offers a raft of cabin extras. As a result, few TKRs will look the same once they leave the factory.

The supercar is the brainchild of company founder Anthony Keating – a businessman and engineer – and has been eight years in the making. Prices start from £80,000.

Legendary British sports car maker AC Cars is returning home to Britain to build its cars at Brooklands in Surrey. The company that built the iconic AC Cobra had been based in Malta but a legal dispute over the factory has prompted the return to Britain.

Owner of the AC brand, Acedes Holdings LLC, struck the new deal with AC specialist Brooklands Motor Company, which has been based in Jack Brabham’s former workshops in Weybridge, Surrey, for the past two decades.

The company will make the original AC Ace, the AC MK11, the AC MK11 FIA and the AC MK111 at the Brooklands facility. A new factory in Michigan is also planned where AC will build cars for the US market.

It is expected that about ten cars a year costing £150,000 will come out of the Brooklands workshop and it will continue to restore and service cars there.

Source: Channel4

This is the car which will put MG back on the map – in Birmingham. It’s called the Roewe 550, but Auto Express can exclusively reveal that an MG-badged version is on its way, and is likely to be made at Longbridge.

The 550 has been designed to appeal to British buyers – the lines were penned by a team of leading UK stylists working for Roewe’s owner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC). The Chinese firm recently bought NAC MG, and is now looking to use the famous octagon logo to give it a slice of the lucrative European market, as SAIC has decided not to bring the Roewe badge here. A car based on the 550 will be the first MG to go on sale.

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DEARBORN, Mich., April 20, 2008 – Geoff Polites, chief executive officer of Jaguar Land Rover, has died peacefully in his home country of Australia. He was 60.

Mr. Polites, who is credited with leading the team that returned the Jaguar Land Rover business back to profitability and successfully steering it through its ongoing sale process to Tata Motors, had been battling serious illness for the past two years.

“Geoff’s untimely passing robs his family and friends of a man who was a real inspiration to us all,” said Alan Mulally, president and chief executive officer, Ford Motor Company. “His drive and determination, combined with his clear sense of vision for the business, played a huge role in turning round the business at Jaguar Land Rover and returning it to profitability. Geoff ensured that Jaguar Land Rover was not distracted and continued to focus on the fundamentals of the business during the recent sale process, despite at the time also fighting his own personal health battle.

“He was a trusted colleague and someone who was much respected not just by his peers but by all who had the privilege to work with him. Our sympathies are with his wife and family at this difficult time,” said Mulally.

Lewis Booth, executive vice president responsible for Ford Motor Company’s businesses in Europe, said: “For many of us at Ford and Jaguar Land Rover, we’ve lost not just a respected colleague but a great friend.

“Geoff was always someone to look up to throughout his almost 40-year career in the automotive industry. His passion for the car business was legend, but the resolve he showed since taking over as CEO of Jaguar Land Rover in 2005 was something very special.

“His leadership of the team that has put the Jaguar Land Rover business back into profitability has been exceptional. Geoff has given Jaguar Land Rover the solid foundation and established the strong management team it needs for a successful future. We will miss our friend very much.”

David Smith, Jaguar Land Rover’s chief financial officer, will take over as the acting chief executive officer at Jaguar Land Rover until a successor is appointed.

The last car to be manufactured at Longbridge may have already rolled off the production line, industry insiders fear.

They said the decision by main supplier Stadco to stop manufacturing body-shells for the MG TF sports car, as The Birmingham Post revealed on Saturday, could effectively sound the “death knell” for the Nanjing project.

One influential source said he doubted whether Nanjing parent SAIC would ever produce cars from Longbridge.
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Ever since MG Rover went bust in 2005 and was bought by Nanjing Automotive, rumors have flown about when the automaker’s Longbridge factory would resume production of its iconic roadster and other models. Well after a long wait, to the delight of enthusiasts MGs are once again available in the UK…just not ones made by the Chinese parent company.

A new endeavor launched by Englishman William Riley called MG Sports and Racing Europe has begun selling a supercharged coupe called the MG X-Power WR. Based on the old company’s most expensive model, the new sports car is built in Eardiston, UK, and priced between approximately $150,000 and $175,000, with seven models sold so far and 35 additional orders in the pipeline.

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