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Jaguar Land Rover UK factories could shut down in two weeks due to coronavirus

COVENTRY, England — Jaguar Land Rover has enough parts from China to maintain its British production for the next two weeks but not beyond that at the moment, Chief Executive Ralf Speth said on Tuesday. Britain's biggest carmaker, which operate three car factories in its home market, joined major global companies such as Apple in warning of the impact of the virus on supply chains. The rapidly spreading virus has killed nearly 1,900 in China and stricken some 72,000 people, confining millions to their homes, disrupting supply chains and delaying reopening of factories after the extended Lunar New Year holiday break. "We are safe for this week and we are safe for next week and in the third week we have... parts missing," said Speth when asking about the potential impact on British production. He said the firm's Chinese factory would open next week and was "safe for the very first week." Sales were not currently happening in China and it was unclear when they would return, he added. The boss of Tata Motors, JLR's parent company, speaking at the same event, said the company does not have sufficient visibility regarding parts suppliers from China. "We are safe for the month of February and for a good part of March," said Guenter Butschek. "Are we fully covered at this point of time for the full month of March? Unfortunately...not." Related Video:

Eagle Spyder GT is the roadster Jaguar E-Type of your dreams

Eagle, a British company that has specialized in restomodding classic Jags for over thirty years, has rolled out a new version of their modified E-Type called the Eagle Spyder GT. If you've heard of Eagle already, it's probably for its gorgeous Speedster. The company subsequently followed up with the fixed-roof Low Drag GT, inspired by the competition model Jaguar developed back in 1961 (and recently continued). The Spyder GT splits the difference, with a chopped and raked windscreen and a folding fabric roof mechanism. Like its stablemates, the Eagle Spyder GT wears bodywork painstakingly crafted entirely out of aluminum, with exquisite detailing. No wonder that, in reviewing it on Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson said, "I think this, by a long way, is the most beautiful car I have ever seen. It might actually be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen." That's high praise indeed from a guy who's not known to shy away from speaking his mind. Unfortunately most of us will never find out, as Eagle only produces these special editions in very limited quantities and at very high cost. Each is custom-made to the owner's specifications, with the first example of the new Spyder GT to be delivered this summer. Related Video: X EAGLE E-TYPES ANNOUNCE THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME - THE EAGLE SPYDER GT In Brief: - Eagle announces the third in their trilogy of special edition Jaguar E-Types - the new Eagle Spyder GT. - The Spyder GT combines the style and dynamics of the celebrated Eagle Speedster with the high performance touring capability of the Eagle Low Drag GT- and incorporates a folding roof for practicality. - Completely bespoke with extensive customer options, the few produced will be the most exclusive hand built cars in the world. Eagle has focused for over thirty years to refine, develop and deliver exceptional engineering for the Jaguar E-Type while remaining true to the spirit of this extraordinary car. The Eagle E-Type has often been described as 'the finest hand-built car in the world' and the reaction of the world's press to the successive 'special edition' Jaguar E-Types developed in-house at Eagle has been rapturous. Leading the way was the Eagle Speedster, which was developed from a client request and then feted around the world.

Why this could be the perfect time for Apple to make a car play

While the automotive and technology worlds have been pouring billions into autonomous vehicles (AVs) and preparing to bring them to market soon as shared robo-taxis, Apple has mostly sat on the sidelines. Of course, Apple is the last company to ever make its intentions known, and the super-secret tech cult giant hasn't been totally out of the AV game based on the clues that have slipped out of its Cupertino, Calif., citadel over the past few years. Related: Apple self-driving cars are real — one was just in an accident News first broke in 2015 that it had assembled an automotive development team, in part by poaching high-profile talent from car companies, to work on a top-secret self-driving vehicle project code-named Titan. (Thank you very much, Nissan.) Apple also subsequently broke cover by making inquiries into using a Northern California AV testing facility and receiving a permit to test AVs on public roads in California. But then as the AV race started to heat up in the last few years, Apple reportedly began scaling back its car activities by downsizing team Titan. More recently, Apple's car project has shown signs of life with the hiring a high-level engineer away from Waymo and luring one Tesla's top engineers and a former employee back to Apple. It also inked a deal with Volkswagen to provide a technology platform and software to convert the automaker's new T6 Transporter vans into autonomous shuttles for employees at tech company's new campus. That is a far cry from giving rides to Wal-Mart shoppers, like Waymo is doing as part of its AV testing in Phoenix. But this could be the perfect time for Apple to enter the AV market now that ride-sharing is reaching critical mass and automakers and others are planning to deploy fleets of robo-taxis. Apple could easily establish a niche as a high-end ride-sharing service – and charge a premium – given its cult-like brand loyalty and design savvy. The growth of car subscription models could also play in Apple's favor since is already has many people hooked on paying for phones in monthly installments – and eager to upgrade when a new and better model becomes available. To achieve this, some believe Apple will fulfill co-founder and CEO Steve Job's dream of building a car. And as the world's first and only $1 trillion company it's sitting on a mountain of cash that certainly gives it the means. But other tech darlings like Tesla and Google have discovered how difficult it can be to build cars at scale.