Volkswagen Golf R 400 revealed – and it looks production ready

The VW Golf R 400 (pictured) revealed ahead of Beijing A few days ago we had a teaser sketch for the VW Golf R 400, a 395 bhp version of the Golf R, which we assumed would be nothing more than yet another uber-powerful Golf Concept. But with underpinnings largely taken from the production Golf R, and a fully functioning interior, this Golf R 400 looks more production ready than any Golf Concept before. The Golf R 400 still uses the regular Golf R’s 2,0 litre Turbo, but VW has managed to squeeze an extra 99bhp and 52lb/ft of torque to produce supercar-rivalling performance of 0-62mph in 3.9 seconds and a top speed of 174mph.

Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division launches

Cars like the Jaguar F-Type Project 7 (pictured) will come from JLR’s Special Operations If the creation of the Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations division to create bespoke, heritage, ultra luxury and high performance Jaguar, Land Rover and Range Rover cars doesn’t shout how positive JLR are about the future, nothing will. Jaguar call it “meeting the increasing expectations of today’s most discerning and enthusiastic car customers“, but what they really mean is that JLR have now got so much back on their game with cars like the new Jaguar F-Type, new Range Rover and new Range Rover Sport that they now have buyers with deep enough pockets to pay for just about anything, so that’s what JLR are going to do with the Special Operations division; give them anything they want – at a price That will mean car like the Jaguar Project 7 F-Type we saw at Goodwood last year being possible, ultra-luxury versions of the Range Rover and even the creation of heritage cars like the new Lightweight E-Types could become a regular occurrence. With a team of engineers and and designers led by Paul Newsome, recently recruited from Williams Advance Engineering, the plan is to create halo vehicles for both the Jaguar and Land Rover brands, and a team of 150 at a new Technical Centre near Gaydon will have a customer commissioning suite for bespoke and premium personalisation.

Car manufacturing halted in Japan

Nissan cars awaiting export wrecked by Tsunami In the wake of the devastating earthquake and Tsunami that struck Japan last week, the domestic car industry has ground to a halt. Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi have all now said they are halting all production until at least Wednesday in order to allow time to address damage, and to allow staff to make contact with family in affected areas. But it’s not just the damage to plants that’s the problem.