Jaguar Land Rover has announced a new partnership with Magna Steyr that will see the contract manufacturer building future JLR products at its plant in Graz, Austria.
JLR currently operates three manufacturing plants in the UK, but those facilities will soon be running at full capacity. The accord with Magna Steyr will allow JLR to keep up with its volume goals.

“The UK remains at the center of our design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities,” Dr. Ralf Speth, Jaguar Land Rover’s Chief Executive Officer, said. “Partnerships such as this will complement our UK operations and engineering.”

Speth added: “Today marks another step towards building our global footprint. This agreement will allow us to expand our award-winning model range as customers around the world demand ever-more innovative vehicles from Jaguar Land Rover.”

JLR didn’t specify which vehicles will be built in Graz. The automaker also didn’t give a timeframe for the start of production.

Magna Steyr has produced a wide range of vehicles for various automakers at its Graz plant, including the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW X3 and Aston Martin Rapide. The plant currently builds the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, Peugeot RCZ, and the MINI Countryman and Paceman.

General Motors has developed a simple technology to help prevent smartphones from overheating while stowed in vehicles.
Engineers decided to figure out a phone cooling system after their mobile devices experienced trouble when charging in a hot prototype vehicle during extreme-condition tests. Smartphones experienced thermal-protection modes to prevent overheating, either suspending charging or turning off altogether.

GM points out that a phone’s thermal protection interventions can be particularly inconvenient for drivers who use their smartphones for navigation assistance or streaming music.

The company decided to solve the problem by routing the car’s air conditioning and ventilation system through the wireless charging bin. The simple solution automatically activates when drivers engage the HVAC system to cool down the interior.

Active Phone Cooling will make its debut on the 2016 Chevrolet Impala and Malibu outfitted with wireless-charging pads, before heading to the 2016 Volt and Cruze.

“Innovation doesn’t mean reinventing the wheel,” said Impala engineer Dan Lascu. “Sometimes simplicity offers the most elegant solution to a problem.”

Volkswagen appears to be growing confident that its investment in next-generation battery technology will soon pay off.
Speaking to German outlet Bild, VW chief Martin Winterkorn claimed the company was working on a “quantum leap” in energy storage for future electric vehicles.

“VW is researching a super-battery in Silicon Valley in California, that is cheaper, smaller and more powerful,” he said, as translated by Autocar. “An electric Volkswagen that can travel 300 km (186 miles) on electricity is in sight.”

The executive did not elaborate, but the comments appear to be a reference to QuantumScape. Based in San Jose, California, and founded by Stanford University researchers, the startup is developing solid-state batteries that store electricity without traditional ion charge carriers. Compared to lithium-ion technology, the experimental batteries are claimed to handle many more charge cycles while inherently protecting against overheating and fires.

Winterkorn previously claimed the solid-state tech would allow EVs to drive for more than 700 kilometers (435 miles) on a single charge. The latest comments cut the promise in half, but the estimate is still more than double the e-Golf‘s 83-mile official range.

QuantumScape’s claims are likely to be met with skepticism, and other battery startups have been caught exaggerating claims of technological breakthroughs. It is unclear if the company’s solid-state battery technology has been validated for production viability. Outside of the lab and prototype testing, success or failure will likely be dependent on the ultimate per-kWh cost for mass production. Another solid-state startup, Sakti3, is hoping to reach around $100 per kWh, or approximately $7,000 for the battery found in the Tesla Model S 70D.

Winterkorn’s claims appear to fall within the scope of existing lithium-ion technology, even if the investment in QuantumScape does not bear fruit. Tesla promises its Model 3 will deliver more than 250 miles of range with deliveries starting late in 2017, while General Motors is said to be eyeing an even sooner launch window for its 200-mile Chevrolet Bolt. Both are expected to sell in the mid-$30,000 range, not far from the current e-Golf’s $33,450 price tag.

Whatever technology VW chooses to power its next-generation EVs and hybrids, the company intends to develop a common modular battery design to help slash costs by up to 66 percent across all of its brands.

Living up to its name, Jaguar has announced that a prototype version of its upcoming F-Pace utility vehicle will set the pace for Team Sky during the start of this weekend’s Tour de France.
Acting as Team Sky’s support vehicle, the F-Pace prototype will be responsible for transporting a crew that will include the Team Sky Sports Director, doctor, mechanic and another senior team member. The F-Pace will support rider Chris Froome through the first 21 stages of the race.

Although the F-Pace’s main role will be that of a support vehicle, Jaguar is also using the event as part of its final shakedown testing of the crossover. In order to keep some secrecy, the prototype F-Pace will be covered in light camouflage.

Jaguar will officially unveil the F-Pace at the Frankfurt Motor Show this fall. Sales are slated to begin in 2016.

Exact details remain scarce, but it is believed that the F-Pace will be offered with a supercharged V6. A V8-powered model could also be offered as a range-topper. An all-electric drivetrain for the F-Pace is also in the works.

A Jaguar Land Rover executive has flatly rejected fully autonomous vehicles as future products for the company.
The British automaker has been working on advanced driver-assistance technology that monitors brainwaves or allows an SUV to be remotely operated over rough terrain via a smartphone, however JLR research-and-development head Wolfgang Epple suggests the company will not develop vehicles that completely eliminate the driver’s traditional role.

“We don’t consider customers cargo,” the executive recently told reporters, as quoted by Automotive News. “We don’t want to build a robot that delivers the cargo from A to B.”

Epple argues that drivers will prefer to still be in control of the vehicle, though he acknowledges the benefits to semi-autonomous technology that is currently under development by JLR and rivals.

“People want to use the emotional side of the brain and autonomous driving does not generate that experience,” he added. “Very smart and safe autonomous vehicles will appear. They will have cognitive abilities and they will make decisions. But ultimately it’s you the driver that makes that decision.”

The company expects its remote-control technology and other semi-autonomous features, such as self-parking, to be available on the market by the end of the decade.