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Cargo ship carrying 1,200 Jaguars and Land Rovers deliberately run aground [w/video]

A cargo ship carrying a load of new cars out of Southampton has run aground in the English Channel in between England and the Isle of Wight. The vessel apparently suffered some sort of failure just 45 minutes after leaving port that caused it to list heavily to the starboard side before the crew deliberately beached it on Bramble Bank to prevent the ship from capsizing altogether. The vessel, called the Hoegh Osaka, is a 590-foot car carrier weighing some 57,000 tons and registered in Singapore. Although several automakers (including Honda and Bentley) were reportedly looking into whether they had cars on board, the vessel is said to have been filled to approximately one-third its capacity, with 1,400 vehicles on board – including 1,200 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles, 65 Mini models and one Rolls-Royce Wraith. 70 to 80 pieces of construction equipment were also said to be on board. The Hoegh Osaka was en route from the southern British port of Southampton to Bremerhaven, Germany. Fortunately, no major injuries have been reported. The crew was mostly airlifted by helicopter off of the beached ship, with two crew members evacuated by lifeboat. One crew member reportedly jumped over 25 feet off the ship into the water before being immediately retrieved by rescue workers. According to the Daily Mail, two crew members were treated for non-life-threatening injuries, including a broken leg. It may take several days, if not longer, to extract the vessel from the sand bank and ascertain the damage to the ship and its cargo. An early attempt to free the ship with tugboats failed, meaning that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency may have to wait until more favorable high tides to try again before towing the ship back into the port. Bramble Bank, where the vessel was run aground, is a well-known obstacle to maritime navigators. The Queen Elizabeth 2 ran aground there in November 2008 with 1,700 passengers on board, but was quickly freed by four tugboats and was able to continue on its way. Two local yacht clubs also play a cricket match there every year at low tide. The vessel's operator, Hoegh Autoliners, praised the skill and quick thinking of the crew in acting to prevent the ship's capsizing by running her aground on the soft, sandy shoal. Watch the clip below for aerial footage of the beached ship, courtesy of the BBC. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.

Why Land Rover's reluctant to show concepts: Chinese clones

While the Chinese auto industry continues to grow and expand with new and original products, a number of automakers still refuse to play by the rules. Rather than coming up with original designs, these automakers shamelessly copy designs from other automakers, slapping their badge on the front as if it were an original product. According to Auto Express, Land Rover has grown tired of dealing with these frauds to the point that it's essentially stopped showing concept cars in order to stave off these clones. One of the most notable and brazen examples of these Chinese copycats is the LandWind X7. While that car looks like an obvious ripoff of the Range Rover Evoque, complaints by Jaguar Land Rover were dismissed, and the X7 hit the market for about a third of the price of the Evoque. Further efforts by JLR have done nothing to halt or change the car's production. It seems Chinese authorities are more interested in protecting the home team than upholding copyright laws. Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern said the automaker was "wary of showing new concepts" because they just give these competitors time to work up a copy. Land Rover's latest model, the Velar, debuted in Geneva in production form. Skipping concepts may not stop competitors from making copies, but it does give Land Rover a huge head start when it comes to production. Related Video: Featured Gallery Production LandWind X7 News Source: Auto Express via Road & Track Design/Style Government/Legal Jaguar Land Rover SUV Concept Cars Luxury jaguar land rover

Jaguar Land Rover to drop supercharged V8 for turbocharged BMW power

There are few things that sound as good as Jaguar's 5.0 liter supercharged V8. As great as it is when the supercharger whines or the exhaust cracks and pops on throttle lift-off as the air pressure equalizes, the basic design dates back to the '90s. Plainly, the engine isn't as efficient as it needs to be, but designing a new V8 from the ground up is an expensive proposition. Instead, Automobile reports that Jaguar Land Rover is set to use a twin-turbocharged V8s supplied by BMW. Scalable architecture is all the rage as automakers streamline designs in order to save costs. For example, Jaguar's current supercharged V6 is quite literally a V8 with two holes missing. They didn't even change the length of the block. It seems both of those designs are on their way out, with the V6 being replaced by a inline-six closely related to the company's inline four. It seems that rather than designing an new and expensive V8 for their top of the line models JLR, is sourcing from BMW. From 1994 to 2000, BMW owned Land Rover. A few models, including the Land Rover Range Rover, used BMW engines then and in the initial years of Ford's JLR stewardship. It seems things have now come full circle. BMW currently makes a twin-turbo 4.4 liter V8 that produces anywhere from 440 to 600 horsepower, depending on the application. Automobile says that a new 4.0 liter V8 is in the works and that it will most likely be the engine that JLR uses. Expect it to be more powerful, more fuel efficient, and lighter than what both BMW and JLR currently offer. This seems like a win for both companies. BMW gets to offset the cost of a new motor while JLR, a smaller company, doesn't have to invest in a whole new architecture. As automakers search for ways to cut costs, expect collaborations like this to continue. Infiniti and Mercedes-Benz both share a four-cylinder engine. Ford and GM have worked together to design a shared 10-speed automatic. While we may lament the loss of that wonderful Jaguar Land Rover engine, we can still be happy that they haven't abandoned the V8. Related Video: News Source: Automobile Rumormill BMW Jaguar Land Rover