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Jaguar hybrid cars due in 2013-14

Jaguar will launch its own hybrid vehicles soon after Land Rover, CAR can confirm. Parent company Jaguar Land Rover is developing battery-assisted hybrid versions for both brands but its strategy puts part-electric Land Rovers first on the launchpad in 2013.Hybrid Jaguars – set to include the XJ and XF, but eventually every model – are therefore likely to be on the market by 2013-2014, using a similar eight-speed ZF hybrid transmission to petrol-electric BMWs.The staggered roll-out of battery Jags and Land Rovers makes sense: heavy 4x4s have come in the firing line from green protestors who label them Chelsea Tractors. Hybrid Land Rovers will trim emissions and – in plug-in hybrid mode – enable even big bulky Range Rovers to drive in zero-emissions mode into central urban areas emitting nothing more unsaintly than an electric whir.So which Jaguars will go hybrid first?It's likely that the largest models such as the XJ will receive the hybrid power packs first; large cars reap the greater benefit and can more easily swallow the additional cost, put at around £10,000 in today's money.JLR's Midlands engineering bases in Whitley and Gaydon now employ 100 engineers in the expanding hybrid powertrain business unit launched 18 months ago.

CAR meets Porsche’s 2014 Le Mans chief

By Ben Pulman First Official Pictures 11 December 2013 14:50 Porsche is returning to Le Mans in 2014 for the first time since 1998 with an all-new LMP1 prototype, and with ex-Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Mark Webber as its star driver. Audi has dominated Le Mans for the past decade, but new-for-2014 rules allow for any engine size and configuration, and instead focus on energy consumption per lap. With the slate wiped clean, 2014 will be Porsche’s best chance to beat its fellow VW Group member, and the strong Toyota team.

Technicon opens new Rüsslesheim studio

The creative arm of global automotive specialist, Technicon Design, has opened a new European studio in Rüsslesheim, Germany. As part of a grand opening late last year, selected clients where invited to view the new center. The new studio takes occupancy in the historic former Opel factory in the heart of the town in the Rhein-Main region of Germany.