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Jaguar Land Rover mulling factory in Georgia?

London's Sunday Times reported last October that Jaguar-Land Rover was sniffing around The South looking for a potential manufacturing site, and was "talking to several southern states." We imagine Georgia was one of them; The Peach State has Kia Motors Manufacturing in West Point, it claims Porsche HQ as a resident, and soon the Mercedes-Benz regional office, too. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has said that Governor Nathan Deal recently took the initiative to fly to the UK to "make prospect calls" with JLR executives about a deal. We don't have any details about the calls, but we'll guess that they involved Deal making a financial case for GA over other states while sipping a cup of tea. It's said that the English luxury maker wants to build a factory here with a 200,000-unit capacity, to take advantage of the same financial efficiencies that have planted other automakers in the US and Mexico; it opened a facility in China last year to build the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport, and the Jaguar XE, and is casting eyes over Brazilian and Saudi Arabian soil for other facilities. No timetable has been given for a decision. Related Video: News Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Automotive News - sub. req.Image Credit: AP Photo/Tony Ding Government/Legal Plants/Manufacturing Jaguar Land Rover Luxury

Jaguar Land Rover launches Pivotal subscription service

Two years ago, Jaguar Land Rover launched a subscription service in the UK dubbed Carpe. The program was effectively a 12-month lease with no deposit and no mileage limit, and an all-inclusive monthly payment covering insurance, tax, service, and repairs. For GBP910 ($1,134 U.S.) plus the cost of fuel every month, a subscriber could secure a Jaguar E-Pace at the bottom end, a payment of GBP2,200 ($2,741 U.S.) per month opening the doors to a Range Rover Sport. In between, the Range Rover Evoque cost GBP980, the Jaguar XE GBP1,200, the Range Rover Velar GBP1,255, and Land Rover Discovery GBP1,550. The numbers and customer feedback have encouraged JLR to turn Carpe into Pivotal, with new lease levels, terms, and restrictions. Instead of keeping a vehicle for 12 months, Pivotal subscribers pay GBP550 to join, then swap out every six months. Changing cars early incurs a GBP250 fee, or customers can request to stick with the vehicle they have beyond six months, but JLR reserves the right to switch out cars when necessary. Pivotal keeps tabs to the odometer, too — instead of unlimited driving, the program caps fee-free travel at 1,500 miles per month, 20 pence per mile after that. However, the FAQ section explains that "mileage is accumulative so do not worry if you do not use your full mileage allowance, the first month can be carried on into the next within a given vehicle."  Carpe's six levels have been reduced to four Pivotal tiers. Blue costs GBP750 ($934 U.S.) per month and offers access to the Jaguar F-Pace, Land Rover Discovery Sport, or Range Rover Evoque, clearly a much better deal than GBP910 for an E-Pace (and we like the E-Pace). Indigo runs GBP1,150 ($1,433 U.S.) for the choice of a Jaguar I-Pace, Range Rover Velar, or Land Rover Discovery. Violet, costing GBP1,350 ($1,682 U.S.), comes with just one vehicle for now, the Range Rover Sport. Same goes for Ultraviolet at GBP1,600 ($1,993 U.S.), which gets the Range Rover. The brand already has plans to expand the fleet with the new Defender, and plug-in hybrid versions of the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Evoque The only noted repair item not covered is windshield replacement, which carries a GBP150 deductible. The splashy rework in England comes shortly after Mercedes-Benz shuttered its Collection service here in the U.S. On trial for two years in Nashville, Philadelphia, and Atlanta, Collection couldn't get the traction Mercedes wanted.

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.