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Jaguar XJ220 owners will finally be able to get new tires

Bridgestone announced today that the underserved Jaguar XJ220 used-car market would finally have access to new tires. Apparently a number of years ago, companies stopped supplying road tires for the XJ220 altogether. Don Law, owner and operator of XJ220 parts and restoration company Don Law Racing, brought the issue to the attention of Bridgestone. Now, Bridgestone and Don Law have assembled a team that includes the vehicle's original chief development engineer and test driver to create a modern tire for the 213-mph supercar. Bridgestone was also able to get access to pre-production car 004 for testing purposes. The company plans to have the new tire ready for the car's twenty-fifth anniversary next year. From the sound of it, the tire will likely outperform the original one, as Bridgestone's vice president of consumer OE tires cited the advancement of tire technology over the years when talking about the project. This whole project also raises an interesting question. Are there any other supercars that don't have original equipment tire options anymore? The XJ220 certainly wasn't the only supercar of the '90s with fat tires on relatively small-diameter wheels. Also, what will happen to the tire market for modern supercars? The Bugatti Veyron famously has special tires designed to handle its extremely high top speed. It certainly is an interesting first-world conundrum, and one we're going to keep tabs on. Related Video:

Jaguar producing short film starring Damian Lewis from Homeland [w/video]

Jaguar is working up a short film to coincide with the US debut of the company's new F-Type. Desire will feature actor Damian Lewis in the lead role opposite Jordi Molla as the main villain in the story. The whole of the action will take place against the picturesque backdrop of the Chilean desert with filming starting early next month. According to Jaguar, the story will follow Lewis as he plays Clark, a man who delivers cars for living. Things get exciting when he crosses paths with a young woman played by Shannyn Sossamon.
With music by Lana Del Rey and some serious production value, Desire sounds keen to take its place among great automotive advertising short films like the BMW Driver series. Jaguar has released a quick teaser, which you can check out by heading over to the F-Type site. You may also take a peek at the full press release below for more information. Expect to see the film debut early next year.

Rising aluminum costs cut into Ford's profit

When Ford reports fourth-quarter results on Wednesday afternoon, it is expected to fret that rising metals costs have cut into profits, even as rivals say they have the problem under control. Aluminum prices have risen 20 percent in the last year and nearly 11 percent since Dec. 11. Steel prices have risen just over 9 percent in the last year. Ford uses more aluminum in its vehicles than its rivals. Aluminum is lighter but far more expensive than steel, closing at $2,229 per tonne on Tuesday. U.S. steel futures closed at $677 per ton (0.91 metric tonnes). Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is weighing whether to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, which could push prices even higher. Ford gave a disappointing earnings estimate for 2017 and 2018 last week, saying the higher costs for steel, aluminum and other metals, as well as currency volatility, could cost the company $1.6 billion in 2018. Ford shares took a dive after the announcement. Ford Chief Financial Officer Bob Shanks told analysts at a conference in Detroit last week that while the company benefited from low commodity prices in 2016, rising steel prices were now the main cause of higher costs, followed by aluminum. Shanks said the automaker at times relies on foreign currencies as a "natural hedge" for some commodities but those are now going in the opposite direction, so they are not working. A Ford spokesman added that the automaker also uses a mix of contracts, hedges and indexed buying. Industry analysts point to the spike in aluminum versus steel prices as a plausible reason for Ford's problems, especially since it uses far more of the expensive metal than other major automakers. "When you look at Ford in the context of the other automakers, aluminum drives a lot of their volume and I think that is the cause" of their rising costs, said Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting at auto consultancy LMC Automotive. Other major automakers say rising commodity costs are not much of a problem. At last week's Detroit auto show, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV's Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne reiterated its earnings guidance for 2018 and held forth on a number of topics, but did not mention metals prices. General Motors Co gave a well-received profit outlook last week and did not mention the subject. "We view changes in raw material costs as something that is manageable," a GM spokesman said in an email.