New Jaguar XJR will see the end of the XJ SuperSport

The launch of the new 2013 Jaguar XJR at the New York Auto Show this week heralds the end of the line for Jaguar’s other Supercharged V8 XJ – the SuperSport. With a much more fulsome 542bhp, some very ‘Jaguar’ go-faster bits, some proper fettling to make the steering, gearbox and suspension focus more on the drive without making a mess of the ride and altogether more dynamism in prospect than the SuperSport, we’d assumed Jaguar were making the XJR the performance pinnacle of the XJ range and leaving the SuperSport in place as the ‘luxury’ alternative. With that thought in mind we’d expected to see Jaguar push the price of the new XJR up towards the XJ Ultimate (which costs £121,000), so count us gobsmacked when Jaguar revealed the new XJR will cost from £92,335 – just £500 more than the SuperSport.

Fiat plans seven vehicles for U.S.

Chrysler LLC and Fiat S.p.A. will bring seven new vehicles to North America under their alliance--four with Chrysler brands and three as Fiats or Alfa Romeos. The vehicles will be built at Chrysler plants in North America and sold through select Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep dealerships, according to sources who have seen the product-sharing agreement.

Bentley sales in China hit new record

Bentley boss Wolfgang Duerheimer at last year's Shanghai Show. Bentley has revealed that China has now overtaken the US as its biggest market with 578 sales in the first quarter of 2012 – up 84.9 per cent. This time last year we reported that Bentley sales were flying in China and closing in on the US as the most important market for Crewe’s products.