1985 Honda Atc 200 S Headlight Assembly Bezel 241 on 2040-parts.com

Jaguar Land Rover: 800 new jobs & record sales

Jaguar Land Rover are creating 800 new jobs at their Solihull plant as they reveal record sales for 2012 of 335,000 vehicles. The end of last week saw Honda plans to cut 800 jobs as the European market for Honda fizzled under a cloud of economic gloom, but no such problems at Jaguar Land Rover. Jaguar Land Rover has revealed plans for 800 new jobs at Solihull (following on from 1,000 new jobs last March, 1100 new jobs last July and 1000 new jobs in November 2011),  after revealing record sales across the globe in 2012, selling an impressive 335,000 vehicles.

Range Rover Evoque Service Pack: 5 years servicing for £499

But it’s not just that buyers of new cars are keen on the idea of long warranties and fixed (or inclusive) service packs that drive car makers to offer better warranties and Service Pack deals, but that offering them keeps the new car buyer inside the dealer network with all the opportunities that potentially presents for up-selling and new car pitching. So the news that Land Rover has decided to dip its collective foot in the water of fixed cost servicing is no surprise, and the offer’s a fairly decent one – a Service Pack for the Range Rover Evoque costs just £499. For your ‘Monkey’ upfront you get all the regular servicing needs of your new Evoque done and dusted for 5 years (or 50,000 miles on the petrol Evoque and 60,000 miles on the diesel).

Ford Escort returns – for China: Shanghai Motor Show

The Ford Escort Concept has been built by Ford with the aim of taking a sizeable chunk of China’s compact saloon market – estimated at 5.5 million sales a year – and looks remarkably production viable and far from ‘budget’. Escort is a badge China knows – there are plenty of old Escorts floating around Chinese roads – so it’s a sensible move by Ford to revive a badge that already resonates as a compact, affordable saloon with Chinese car buyers. This new Escort gets a proper version of Ford’s latest design language – including the Aston Martin grill – and has good lines and strong detail including jeweled headlights with the lucky Chinese ’8′ discernible ; it looks entirely cohesive and nothing like a Focus with a boot grafted on.