JustBritish

The Chicago Sun-Times Auto section recently published an interesting article on the beloved Triumph Spitfire. The Spitfire is a great care that seems to be fading farther and farther from view. The Sun-Times article begins, “The plucky Triumph Spitfire sports car was cheap, fun and wore a body from Italian master stylist Giovanni Michelotti. It met growing demand for smaller, lower-priced sports cars from those who couldn’t afford larger, costlier ones, such as the Austin-Healey or even the Triumph TR4. It arrived in 1962 and lasted with updates through 1980 — an especially long run.”

“The Spitfire got its name from a famous World War II British fighter plane. It initially cost less than $2,200 mostly because it was derived from the small Triumph Herald family car. It was developed shortly before England’s financially troubled Standard-Triumph was bought by England’s Leyland Motors, which took control in April 1961.”

For the complete article be Dan Jedlicka, check out the Chicago Sun-Times auto section.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Jaguar has joined a growing list of car makers to cut production as the credit squeeze and economic downturn continue to hit sales. The now Indian-owned company said it was responding to market conditions by “taking a little bit of volume” out of production of the flagship XJ sports saloon – the current model of which is likely to be replaced next year – and the XK sports car.

Jaguar would not spell out the extent of the cuts at its Castle Bromwich factory in Birmingham, but The Birmingham Post understands that between 200 and 300 fewer cars will be built between now and the end of the year.

That would equate to about a week’s worth of production for both the XJ and XK. Production of the XF saloon car, which has been a huge success since it was launched in March, and for which Jaguar has a big advance order book, is not thought to be affected. The company did confirm, however, that 280 workers transferred from sister company Land Rover’s Solihull factory to help meet the high initial demand for the XF have now returned to Lode Lane.

Jaguar sales have risen by about 13 per cent so far this year thanks to the global popularity of the new car but Land Rover has lost ground as high fuel costs hit sales of 4x4s. Land Rover has already announced cuts in production, including the suspension of the Range Rover night shift and four-day working on some other lines, as its sales ebb away from the record levels seen in the past three years.
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Popularity: 24% [?]

According to the Economic Times, the new Lotus Evora is the best car to ever roll out of a Lotus factory. After thirteen years Lotus has finally added a new model to its existing line-up of exotic machinery like the Elise roadster which came in 1995 and the Exige, which was a coupe version of the Elise. The new model is called the Lotus Evora and the British car-maker has been working on this project for past five years.

It is the only mid-engined 2+2 sportscar currently in production and it is the first model out of the three that the company plans to launch under its five year strategic plan. The bosses at Lotus have been extremely excited about this new car and some of them also commented that this is the best car ever to roll out of the Lotus factory.

The 3.5 litre V6 motor, sourced from Toyota, as installed in the Evora pumps out 280PS of power thrown at 6,400rpm and 342Nm of torque developed at 4,700rpm. The mid-mounted transverse engine is packed inside a modular lightweight bonded aluminum chassis and the steering on the Evora is hydraulically assisted.

Read more of their review at The Economic Times.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Might the mighty Jaguar, once a consistent winner on the LeMans circuit be considering a return to the competition?

According to Autoweek, Jaguar is doing just that – considering a return to LeMans. Supposedly the new Indian parent company, Tata Motors, is evaluating a high-profile motorsports comeback.

“We want to hit the Le Mans race [because] we are examining how to bring the Jaguar brand back to its earlier position,” Tata chairman Ratan Tata told Indian media.

Popularity: unranked [?]