06 Ford Explorer Shift Assembly on 2040-parts.com

Land Rover Defender to be built in Sri Lanka

The Land Rover Defender is to be built outside the UK in a new plant in Sri Lanka to produce Defenders for the region. Land Rover are assisting and training staff at a new assembly plant in Hambantota, Sri Lanka, run by Sathosa Motors PLC in a 50-50 deal with Land Rover distributors SML Frontier Automotive, with $1 million being invested to get the project up and running this year. It seems clear from the level of investment that this is simply an assembly operation using CKD kits from the UK for the Defender, but Sri Lank’s Daily News is reporting that there are plans to invest $500 million in the project.

Lexus CT 200h: Price & models

The Lexus CT 200h UK Price & Models revealed Although it seems like it’s been around forever, the Lexus CT 200h was only officially debuted at the Paris Motor Show last month, although it’s more than a year since we speculated that the Lexus Premium Compact Concept would become the Lexus CT. Still, Lexus has got there and they are ready to roll the CT 200h out in the UK. We got European prices a few weeks back, which frankly were a bit stronger than we’d expected for what Lexus had said would be a 1-Series competitor.

Who's where: Jean-Arthur Madelaine-Advenier becomes Citroën's head of interior design

Citroën has appointed Jean-Arthur Madelaine-Advenier as its new head of interior design. The 34-year-old Frenchman joins the firm from Tesla, where he had a brief stint as lead designer for interiors at the US-company's California studio. Madelaine-Advenier graduated from the RCA in London in 2003, then headed to Mercedes' advanced studio in Italy for a three-year stint as a junior interior designer.