Jaguar Land Rover open new engineering test centre in Dubai

Jaguar Land Rover are growing at a tremendous rate, and that means more and more testing of cars to make sure they can cope with the extremes of climate they’re subjected to by owners around the world. So as part of their growing test programme, JLR have extended their testing and engineering facilities in the Al Barsha area of Dubai so they can test durability, calibration and hot weather testing for heat and humidity as well as test the powertrains, chassis, HVAC and, as this is Dubai and it has plenty of sand, they can also give the Land Rover Terrain Response systems a proper workout. JLR has been hot weather testing in Dubai for more than 12 years – an area where temperatures can reach 50 degrees Celsius – and the new facility replaces a much smaller one in the same area, and joins Jaguar Land Rover’s other test facilities at the Nurburgring, Arjeplog in Sweden and Phoenix and International Falls in the States to ensure all JLR’s new cars get subjected to everything from extreme hot and cold to track work.

Mercedes Viano Vision Diamond – the Maybach of vans

Mercedes Viano Vision Diamond Mercedes-Benz has revealed the Viano Vision Diamond at Beijing, a utilitarian Mercedes van with the interior of a Maybach. The Maybach brand didn’t do Mercedes any favours, with German glitterballs proving no match for British (oh, alright, German-ish) understated elegance in the Rolls Royce Phantom. Maybach has now been re-consigned to the dustbin of history and likely only ever to be seen as a badge to denote the glitziest model in the next S Class range.

New Range Rover Sport in New York

The newly refreshed Range Rover Sport takes at bow at the New York Motor Show Land Rover are working hard to keep their main models up to date and fresh before an all new set of cars arrives in a couple of years. And the big news with the Range Rover Sport is really under the skin. Out goes the old supercharged 4.2 and the somewhat breathless 2.7 diesel, and in comes the brute of a 5.0 litre supercharged lump from Jaguar that has also gone in to the new Range Rover (and the LR4 – but not for the UK – why not?), and the terrific 3.0 litre diesel that also graces the Jaguar.