2004 Land Rover Discovery S Sport Utility 4-door 4.6l on 2040-cars

Auto blog

This Or That: 1987 VW Vanagon Syncro vs. 1987 Land Rover Defender [w/poll]

As I scoured auction sites and classified ads for the perfect vehicle to take into battle with Autoblog Associate Editor Brandon Turkus, I knew I needed to find something unique. You see, I'm currently 0-2 at winning a round of This or That, in which two of our editors agree on a category, choose a side, and argue it out over a (mostly) friendly chain of emails.
The first time we did this, my chosen Fiat 500 Abarth took about a third of the popular vote in our reader poll. The second time, my lovely 1980 Oldsmobile 442 did just a little bit better against a 1989 BMW 635 CSi. Despite holding the opinion that my automotive choices, though perhaps a little bit more... obscure than my fellow editors, are still better, an outright win would go a long way toward boosting my vehicular self worth a few notches upward.
With all of that out of the way, even if three isn't my lucky number after all, I go into battle against Brandon knowing full well that I've made the perfect choice: A 1987 Volkswagen Vanagon Syncro. My rough-and-tumble van/'ute has a formidable opponent in the form of a 1987 Land Rover Defender, which, truth be told, is exactly what I was expecting from Turkus, a self-proclaimed Rover aficionado.

Jaguar Land Rover looks to hire hundreds of laid-off tech workers

LONDON — Laid off tech industry workers in Britain could find a new home at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), as the 100-year-old luxury carmaker looks to hire hundreds of engineers to help develop electric car technology. The carmaker, which wants to become an "electric-first" business from 2025, on Friday announced a jobs portal for displaced tech workers to fill 800 roles spanning self-driving, electrification, machine learning and data science. The company said it believed workers leaving big tech groups like Amazon were most likely to have the required skills to fill new roles in Britain, Ireland, the United States, India, China and Hungary. The majority of the jobs will be in Britain. The hiring drive comes after thousands of layoffs in recent weeks at U.S. tech firms including Twitter, Meta and Amazon, some of which have offices in London and Dublin, Ireland. "Our digital transformation journey is well underway but being able to recruit highly skilled digital workers is an important next step," Chief Information Officer Anthony Battle said in a statement. JLR last year announced an electrification strategy under which all Jaguar cars would be fully electric by 2024 and an electric option would be offered across its entire portfolio including Land Rover. The company is owned by India's Tata Motors. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. Green Hirings/Firings/Layoffs Jaguar Land Rover Technology Electric

UK electric motor maker YASA expands production 50-fold for EVs

LONDON — British electric motor manufacturer YASA said on Thursday it was increasing its production capacity from 2,000 to 100,000 units with a new factory to tap into growing demand from carmakers for greener technologies. Automakers are racing to build greener vehicles and improve charge times in a bid to meet rising customer demand and air quality targets but Britain lacks sufficient manufacturing capacity, an area the government is building up. Last year, the government picked a site in central England to house a new automotive battery development facility, which will develop the processes required to manufacture the latest battery advancements. On Thursday, YASA, based near the English city of Oxford, said it had raised another 15 million pounds ($21 million) as part of its expansion. "Our customers are looking to adopt innovative new technologies such as YASA's axial-flux electric motors and controllers in order to meet the needs of the rapidly expanding hybrid and pure electric automotive market," said Chief Executive Chris Harris. The firm exports 80 percent of production and has worked with companies including Britain's two biggest carmakers Jaguar Land Rover and Nissan as well as Aston Martin. JLR will decide this year whether to build electric cars in its home market, previously citing factors such as pilot testing and support from science and government as pre-requisites. Reporting by Costas PitasRelated Video: