JLR (Jaguar Land Rover): 1,000 new jobs at Halewood

Jaguar Land Rover recruiting 1,000 at Halewood Jaguar Land Rover are creating 1,000 new jobs at their Halewood plant to keep up with orders for the Range Rover Evoque and Freelander 2. We’ve reported umpteen times on Land Rover’s order book for the Range Rover Evoque, and how the stylish new entry-level Range Rover has scored a direct hit with buyers, And that’s now translating in to even more jobs at Land Rover, just nine months after Evoque production started. JLR has announced the creation of 1,000 extra jobs at their Halewood plant on Merseyside to try and keep pace with the burgeoning order book not just for the Range Rover Evoque, but also for the Freelander 2 which is also being created as CKDs for shipping to India.

Call for reform over road repair funding

FUNDING patterns mean most road maintenance is being carried out in "less-efficient, cold and wet" times, a report from a Government spending watchdog has said. The current pattern of funding, combined with the need to spend money within the financial year, means that most maintenance work goes on between September and March, said the report from the National Audit Office (NAO). It went on: "Although this is less disruptive for road users, it is less efficient than carrying out the work at other times of year because materials can be more difficult to handle in cold and wet conditions, and daylight hours are shorter." The report went on: "As a result of the additional funding for emergency repairs, which is made available at the end of the financial year, almost all highways authorities need extra capacity from the market at the same time, which makes it less likely that they will get value for money." The NAO report said there was a "lack of predictability" over road spending adding that historically, local highway authorities spent more revenue on maintenance, but were now carrying out fewer routine activities such as clearing gullies which are essential to preventing water seeping into roads' sub-structure.

New Kia Sorento at Frankfurt

The new Kia Sorento will get its debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show The new Kia Sorento – a seven seat SUV – is longer, lower and more aerodynamic than the current model. Its length has increased by 18mm and its drag coefficient drops to 0.38 – down from 0.43 – which will help with economy. And Kia says that the new Sorento has been set up to be more road-biased, without losing any of the Sorento’s off-road ability.