Megan Lowering Springs Mini Countryman R60 2011+, Paceman R61 13+ (fwd Models) on 2040-parts.com

Visual arts students vs. in-car technology

The automobile's natural technological evolution has gone from basics like wipers and headlights to high-tech infotainment systems that map your route, locate the nearest Starbucks, report weather and traffic, and stream personal music libraries. Yet many of these systems are difficult and distracting to use. So we wondered: Of the infotainment systems out there, is there even one achieving its connectivity goals better than the rest?

New Jaguar XE: More Ingenium engine details (video)

Jaguar XE 2.0 litre diesel Ingenium engine – from 99g/km Unlike the new Land Rover Discovery Sport – which makes do with the current outsourced 2.2 litre diesel engine – the new Jaguar XE is getting JLR’s all-new range of Ingenium engines from launch. Now, with the proper debut of the XE just a week away, Jaguar is happy to share a bit more detail on the XE’s new engines. Built at Jaguar’s new engine plant – in which JLR has invested £500 million – the new Ingenium engines are a clean-sheet design, as light and efficient as possible and capable of delivering an impressive blend of power and torque.

MG Design Centre opens in UK

The opening of MG's new design center this week at the historic production site of Longbridge, Birmingham, England was both an incredible and credible occasion. Incredible, because the brand looked dead in the water after the debacle of MG Rover's collapse in 2005 and even after various Chinese takeovers, its UK operation seemed destined to play no more than a tokenistic bit part. And thankfully credible too, because now all of MG's global design will genuinely be led from this new facility in the epicentre of England's traditional motoring heartland.