2008 Range Rover Hse on 2040-cars

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Your guide to vehicle subscription services

They might be extremely limited in scope because of location availability, but vehicle subscription services are a growing trend that most luxury manufacturers are jumping on. Plans are expensive, but you're paying for much more than just the car typically. We highlighted four of the larger plans with a few more listed at the end. Care by Volvo Volvo launched its subscription service last year with its brand-new XC40. It was the only vehicle available for a time, but subscribers can now get an S60 sedan as well. Subscriptions are for two years, with the monthly price including insurance, a concierge service, wear-and-tear item replacements and all maintenance. You'll be able to drive 15,000 miles per year with whichever Volvo you choose, and although there are no options to extend that mileage, you can swap cars after a year. Pricing for the XC40 is $650 per month in base trim, while an S60 can be as expensive as $850 for the R-Design. Volvo's plan is to offer more cars soon through the service, but it's relatively limited compared to others right now. Porsche Passport Porsche has two levels in its subscription service: Launch and Accelerate. Launch will cost $2,000 per month and give you access to the Cayman, Boxster, Macan and Cayenne. All of those but the Cayenne can be had in "S" trim as well. Accelerate is where the fun really starts. For $3,000 per month you can choose from a fleet of 911s, including the S, 4S, Cabriolet and Cabriolet S. If those aren't enough, you can also get the Panamera 4S, Macan GTS and Cayenne S. There are no mileage limits and you can change vehicles as often as you'd like. Also included in the price is insurance, repairs, detailing and any maintenance. It might be extremely expensive and limited to Atlanta only, but this subscription service is second-to-none for what you get. Audi Select Audi just launched its subscription car service, and it's offered in one version for a flat fee of $1,395 per month. For that you'll have access to five different cars including the A4, S5 Coupe, A5 Cabriolet, Q5, and Q7. Not a bad range of vehicles, but it would've been neat to see the recently updated A7 in there too. Maybe in time. Like the others, insurance and maintenance are wrapped up in the price. Audi is allowing for unlimited miles and two car swaps per month here. In addition to that, you'll get two days of free rentals through Audi's Silvercar rental agency should you go on a trip.

Jaguar Land Rover hands Tata the biggest loss in Indian corporate history

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI — Jaguar Land Rover's owner Tata Motors Ltd stunned markets by posting the biggest-ever quarterly loss in Indian corporate history of about $4 billion on slumping China sales, sending its shares crashing as much as 30 percent. Tata Motors also warned that the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) unit, which brings in most of its revenue, would swing to an operating loss for the year versus an earlier projection it would break even, given weak sales at the luxury British carmaker. JLR's China retail sales were cut almost in half in the December quarter as overall demand in the world's biggest auto market contracted last year for the first time since the 1990s. The firm has also been buffeted by Brexit woes and weaker business for diesel cars that account for bulk of its sales in Europe. Tata Motors turned in a third-quarter loss of 269.93 billion rupees ($3.8 billion) on Thursday, more than half its current market capitalization of $6.1 billion, mostly due to a massive impairment at JLR. Analysts were expecting a profit. "We are now taking clear and decisive actions in JLR to step up its competitiveness, reduce costs and improve cash flows and make the business fit for the future," Chief Financial Officer PB Balaji told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. JLR has taken steps to address the slide in China sales by changing its strategy to focus on profits for dealers instead of sales and incentivising retail sales over wholesale, he said. "We are encouraged by continued demand for the refreshed Range Rover and Range Rover Sport," JLR Chief Commercial Officer Felix Brautigam said in a statement. "With deliveries of the new Evoque due to start later this quarter, we look forward to building momentum." But analysts expect JLR to struggle to generate profit with China's economy projected to slow further this year after growth eased to its weakest pace in almost three decades in 2018. JLR's overall retail sales in January plunged 11 percent. The dour numbers prompted Tata investors to make a beeline for the exits as markets opened on Friday, with shares of the company skidding to their lowest in nine years at one point. The stock was down about 20 percent by 0720 GMT near 150 rupees, on track for its sharpest drop since 2003. At least four brokerages cut their price target for Tata Motors shares after its quarterly loss. Analysts at Jefferies pegged the stock at 250 rupees, versus an earlier target of 300 rupees, citing weak performance at JLR.

Land Rover could build a baby Defender on a platform sourced from BMW

The collaboration between BMW and Jaguar-Land Rover started out small, it was originally limited to motors for electric cars, but it might not stay that way for long. The Tata-owned British sister companies will allegedly rummage through Munich's sizable parts bin to build nearly half a dozen cars scheduled to come out during the 2020s. According to a report by British magazine Autocar, Jaguar has started designing two small cars that will join its growing family of Pace-badged soft-roaders. They'll be new additions to the firm's portfolio, not replacements for existing cars. One will be a regular crossover, while the other will be a swoopier, form-over-function four-door model ostensibly marketed as a coupe. Both will slot at the very bottom of the Jaguar portfolio, below the already pretty small E-Pace, in a growing market segment where the competition is fierce, and profit margins are thinner than an i3's tires. Here's where BMW apparently comes in. Instead of developing a platform from scratch, the two crossovers could ride on the hybrid-ready, front-wheel drive FAAR architecture found under the third-generation 1 Series hatchback and the upcoming 2 Series Gran Coupe. If we believe an earlier report claiming Jaguar and BMW will also share engines, most of the hardware found under the sheet metal will have German genes. All-wheel drive will certainly be available, and it could also come from BMW. The same platform -- and, presumably, the same engines -- would provide the basis for a Land Rover-badged model positioned in the same segment. Autocar learned it will be to the next-generation Defender (pictured) what the Mercedes-Benz GLB is to the G-Class. Some key design cues will carry over, but the two models will share absolutely nothing under the sheet metal. The soft-roader could resurrect the Freelander nameplate when it goes on sale during the 2020s. Looking even further ahead, the front-wheel-drive platform the next Mini Countryman and X1 will utilize could find its way under the replacements for the next Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport. These plans could very well change; the Evoque and the Disco Sport barely entered their second generation, so they're not due for a replacement until the second half of the coming decade. While neither company has confirmed or denied the report, the partnership makes sense from a business standpoint.