In the first full week after the Easter holiday break and, here in the UK, of what is optimistically called ‘British Summer Time’, there was still plenty of interest in the pending Tata acquisition of Jaguar/Land Rover from Ford so we thought we’d help with a guide to the entrepreneurial Indian group.
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Whistle through Dave Leggett’s fact-packed article, as thousands of our readers have already done since Wednesday, and the words ‘many irons in the fire’ may come to mind. Enjoy.
Not entirely unrelated came news from Ford of another stage in the globalisation of its closely-linked product development and purchasing functions. You can just imagine the work that went into considering the current processes and facility locations, coming up with the essential ‘big picture’ revamp – and then making it happen.
We have already seen some signs ahead of this week’s announcement. Last month, US reports said development of large rear-drive vehicles would come ‘home’ from the Australian outpost whose Falcon and Territory spin-offs are the only really modern rear-drivers left in the Blue Oval’s global portfolio. Ford insiders were quoted saying two interesting things – there will always be a market for some big rear-drivers (what would police in North America and Australia drive, otherwise?) and that there would be a new Falcon for Down Under.
So, does this mean we will finally see a redesign of the ancient rear-drive Ford Crown Victoria police cruisers and taxis and their Mercury Marquis and Lincoln Town car spin-offs, still much loved by Florida retirees, the US livery trade and stretch-limo builders?
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By GlobalDataSmall diesel SUVs – almost all from the Far East – are very popular here in the UK as you get a high ride, nice looks, reasonable economy and CO2 emissions and the ability to slither across the odd muddy field at little Georgina’s gymkhana.
But if you want automatic with your diesel, your choice narrows to the likes of Nissan’s hot-selling Qashqai (aka Dualis), Korean models like the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sportage (now assembled in Slovakia, as it happens) and the home-grown Land Rover Freelander 2.
Fancy a UK-built Honda CR-V or Japanese-made Toyota RAV-4 with diesel auto and it’s either compromise with the petrol auto in the brochure – or change brands. The PRs usually mutter words like ‘not enough demand to cover the development cost/homologation costs’ and, yes, it’s true few Brits outside urban areas prefer to let the car choose its own gears.
But things could change now Japanese upstart Mitsubishi is close to launching its soon-to-be-European-built (in the NedCar plant in Holland) Outlander with twin-clutch automatic transmission. They’re claiming a world first: a twin-clutch SUV.
VW pioneered this ingenious type of ‘box here and they get rave reviews for their fast, smooth shifts and good fuel economy. Maybe the fact that Mitsi also makes some versions of the Outlander for PSA to sell as the Citroen C-crosser and Peugeot 4007 provided that ‘economy of scale’?
One last thought: will Mitsubishi keep the twin-clutch gearbox bolted to the excellent, and very torquey, 2.2-litre turbodiesel it buys in from PSA just for itself? Or will it also share its clever new autobox (used also on the new Lancer) with its French supplier and OEM customer?
Enjoy your weekend.
Graeme Roberts
Deputy/News Editor
just-auto
