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Jaguar & Land Rover to share more platforms. But you already knew that.

As Jaguar and Land Rover expand their model range and move to aluminium construction, they plan to share more platforms. Jaguar has been using an aluminium platform for the XJ for some time – long before the latest XJ came along. The aluminium platform the XJ uses is just the start for Jaguar Land Rover, as we reported back in 2009, and it seems that JLR are planning to use the move to aluminium underpinnings to cut their platforms to just two or three.

Carbon-fiber parts and a software fix help create a lighter, faster Fiat

Chrysler Group's Mopar parts brand and Italian supplier Magneti Marelli have teamed up on a design exercise based on the 2012 Fiat 500 Abarth that shaved weight and added horsepower. The vehicle, called the Venom, has a number of carbon fiber components -- hood and side mirrors, for example -- that makes it about 200 pounds lighter than the 2,512-pound Abarth. The Venom uses software updates and additional exhaust components to boost the Abarth's standard 160-hp 1.4-liter turbocharged engine's output by as much as 25 percent.

Keels & Wheels concours features classic cars, wooden boats and more

“Not just anyone can do this,” a clearly exhausted Bob Fuller, chairman and founder of the 17th-annual Keels & Wheels Concours d' Elegance, said shortly after presiding over the awarding of 69 trophies in the automotive division of the two-day classic-car and wooden-boat show held at Seabrook's Lakewood Yacht Club south of Houston, Texas. “You have to have the facilities to do this, and we have these beautiful grounds surrounding this big protected harbor,” said Fuller, a car and boat collector. Fuller collaborated with cochairman Bob Merryman, then-president of the Southwest Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society, to found the event, which benefits the Boys & Girls Harbor nonprofit.