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Harris Tweed or Hugo Boss?
We have published a piece today from Mark Bursa who is chewing the Jaguar fat along, it seems, with just about everyone else right now. It follows a lengthy conversation I had with him on the phone on the subject recently. He reckons a Russian moneybags will go for it and the reasoning makes sense. Don't rule out Hyundai though. But I particularly enjoyed his take on Jaguar falling down because the concept of 'British luxury' - in terms of its traditional image and Jaguar competing with BMW, Benz - just couldn't cut it, contrasting with 'German luxury' and it's modern, high-tech feel. Backs up what I was recently saying about the problems with the X-type. Or as Mark neatly sums it up: Harris Tweed or Hugo Boss? Incidentally, if you click into the image gallery (top right of the article) I've put a selection of print ad pages that I came across on Jag's press site in there. That XK120 drophead was a real peach of a design - and quick with it.

Valeo wants Visteon
It's reported that Valeo could be interested in buying Visteon. I d give the reports some credence, as Valeo is interested in growth through acquisitions and also has a long history of interest in increasing its presence in the US. FRANCE: Valeo after Visteon I recall interviewing Valeo CEO Thierry Morin in his Paris office a few years ago. For a guy who is an accountant by training, his enthusiasm over the latest technologies and Valeo s future growth strategy was impressive. He s a man with a vision. During the course of the interview, Morin maintained that he saw a big opportunity for Valeo in the US marketplace. In particular, he envisaged Valeo as a supplier adding value, with leading edge technology, that could help the Detroit Big Three to move away from a prevailing cost-down mentality (in relations with suppliers) and in the process actually improve customer perceptions of its products. It was an interesting argument, I thought. Exclusive: Interview with Valeo's Thierry Morin While Valeo has seen its profits fall lately, mainly on higher raw material costs, it is still a relatively strong performer and expanding rapidly. Morin the man who turned Valeo around at the beginning of the decade is continuing to deliver. If Visteon - or a substantial chunk of it - ends up in Morin s hands, Detroit could find that it has an even more powerful, switched on and potentially very helpful Tier 1 supplier in its midst. A nettle to grasp that could be beneficial. And it could be a smart move for Valeo, massively strengthening its US market (and global) presence at relatively low cost. On a related note, there was research published earlier this week by consultants Roland Berger on supplier strategies. It forecasts suppliers accounting for an increased percentage of the value-added in vehicle production globally as hard-pressed vehicle makers require their suppliers to assume more engineering and design responsibilities. US: Supplier strategies suggested Roland Berger s suggestions for supplier strategies must be music to Thierry Morin s ears. And financially challenged Ford and GM might be a particularly fertile furrow for Valeo to plough in the coming years, especially with the possible addition of Visteon s business in the case of Ford.

Long-Term Update: 2005 Land Rover LR3 HSE
Read this full Long-Term Update article at Motor Trend: It's 123 degrees in Death Valley. The LR3's engine temperature gauge hasn't moved off midpoint, even when climbing the renowned testing grade at Stovepipe Wells in 118 F heat.

Ethanol - you mean there's a downside?
There's a tendency for journalists to be a bit gooey eyed over the use of ethanol fuel in automobiles. It's understandable. We're talking, after all, about a fuel made from plants and that is CO2 neutral - it sounds too good to be true, especially when you consider how things are going in the volatile world of the black stuff ('Peak Oil' anyone?). Brazil is usually held up as the shining example of a place where ethanol is manufactured and used in cars. It is certainly right that we should pay a little more attention to biofuels and look at what is happening down there. Of course we should. But it's not all good news. One issue is how much land would have to go over to cultivating the crops that can create the fuel, if it is going to be manufactured in serious quantity locally. Ethanol from wood pulp in sparsely populated Sweden is one thing, but we don't have a great deal of space for additional sugar beet production in England (and if you ship the fuel in from Brazil, that's just a little self-defeating on the CO2 front). And down in Brazil it would seem - click below link - that there is not universal praise for how the ethanol manufacturing industry has been developed and the consequences of going down the ethanol path.