1985 Jaguar Xj6 Base Sedan 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars

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Jaguar opens new engine plant in the UK

The heads of Jaguar Land Rover are having a busy couple of weeks opening factories. Just days after inaugurating the company's first overseas plant in China, the automaker's new Engine Manufacturing Center in the UK is being inaugurated, as well. The plant near Wolverhampton, England, marks the first time in decades that JLR is building its own powerplants in-house. Further signaling the importance of this launch for the business, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip were on hand and even tweeted about it.
The factory's first major project is to build JLR's latest Ingenium four-cylinders, starting with the 2.0-liter diesel version. "Our new Engine Manufacturing Centre is an important step in advancing the competitiveness and capability of the UK automotive sector. The production of in-house engines will support the expansion of the UK supply chain providing critical mass for inward investment," said Trevor Leeks, plant operations director in the automaker's announcement.
Opening the doors to the Engine Manufacturing Center has been years in the making for JLR. The plant was first announced in September 2011 and broke ground in June 2012. Building it cost the company 500 million pounds ($800 million) and created 1,400 new jobs. Of course, being a state-of-the-art factory, considerations were made to make the place as energy efficient as possible. That meant installing the UK's largest solar array with 21,000 panels to produce about 30 percent of the site's electricity needs.

Dick Van Dyke escapes his flaming Jaguar on the 101

Actor Dick Van Dyke was caught in a dangerous situation on a Los Angeles highway (who are we kidding, every situation on an LA highway is dangerous), when his Jaguar XJ spontaneously caught fire. The 87-year-old actor/comedian pulled to the side and attempted to call emergency services when another motorist pulled him from the car. There seems to be some confusion as to whether Van Dyke was passed out or merely calling emergency services.
According to the photos and video from NBC and The Today Show, the car was thoroughly cooked in the blaze and is now a total loss. After the incident, Van Dyke's wife, Arlene, posted that the actor was "fine," sharing a Vine video of the star, the car, and a few CHP troopers that were on hand. Later in the day, Van Dyke tweeted a photo of his toasted sedan, saying, "Used Jag for sale REAL CHEAP!!"
You can view the Today show segment on the incident as well as Arlene Van Dyke's Vine video, below.

Jaguar teaches Mena Suvari and Sebastian Stan how to drive the F-Type

Automakers conduct driver training programs on racing circuits around the world for a variety of participants: journalists, customers, even celebrities. And at a recent session of the Jaguar Performance Driving Academy at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, the Leaping Cat marque had a couple of the Hollywood types in the paddock.
In addition to the various (evidently well-heeled) members of the public, learning how to pilot the new F-Type Coupe R on the track this time around were actors Sebastian Stan and Mena Suvari. You might recognize Stan from his roll as Bucky Barnes in the Captain America movies and Suvari from such red, white and blue favorites as American Beauty and the American Pie franchise, but both got a first-hand taste of one of Britain's finest courtesy of Jaguar.
So how did it go? Well, as one of the less-famous participants put it, it was #awesomesauce." We couldn't possibly reproduce in words her enthusiasm in person and on camera, so you'll just have to watch the video below to see for yourself.