Around the Industry 174 – Part 2

Around the Industry 174 – Part 2

LAND ROVER SPECIAL VEHICLE OPERATIONS TO BUILD PROPER OFF-ROADERS

The boss of Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division (SVO) has confirmed to Autoexpress that they are planning more hardcore off-road versions of the Land Rover brand. And that's a good thing as Land Rovers last remaining credible utilitarian 4WD (Defender) is only months away from getting the axe.

“There are four different types of cars we want to do at SVO,” John Edwards told Autoexpress. “There are on-road performance cars, all-terrain performance cars that we haven’t done so far, luxury derivatives and what we’re calling collector’s editions, like the Project 7. On-road performance is fairly easy; you just think about ‘M’ and ‘AMG’ and think how can we apply the same thinking. All-terrain is slightly different, clearly much more appropriate for Land Rover than Jaguar. Land Rover has that all-terrain capability built into all its products, but we need to give customers the permission to use it.”

Edwards told the publication every Land Rover has outstanding off-road performance, but it’s about making that performance “useable” and the cars “abusable rather than too precious”. Examples he provided was to use more durable material for the seats rather than leather, improving ground clearance, wheel and tire combinations, and underbody protection.

Edwards stopped short of confirming exactly which models would be first to receive a rugged makeover, claiming that the idea was still being debated internally, but he hinted that the Range Rover family is near the top of his list.

IS HYUNDAI READY TO PULL TRIGGER ON SANTA CRUZ?

How ironic that only a few short years ago we were writing how the small and mid-size truck market was dead; and now the segment seems to be ready to explode once again. The manufacturers did not read the market as well as they should have, and it looks as though we may have one more new small truck available in the not so distant future.

"There is a very high probability we will get the approval of the truck soon," Hyundai Motor America CEO Dave Zuchowski said to the TheDetroitBureau.com, referring to the Santa Cruz concept that was on display at the Detroit Auto Show. Customer surveys by Hyundai U.S.A. have shown the possibility of a pickup to be quite popular around the country, except among Texans, according to Zuchowski. We can only surmise that it would be even more popular here in Canada as we have historically been much more hospitable to smaller vehicles, especially trucks. However, the final sign-off still needs to come from corporate headquarters in South Korea.

Despite positive talk coming from inside Hyundai, we wouldn’t expect to see a production Santa Cruz for at least another couple years and it will likely not be as extreme as the concept vehicle. Now if Ford and Mazda could only read the writing on the wall and bring back the Ranger and B-Series!

F-150 GETS NATURAL GAS ALTERNATIVE

Ford has announced that they will offer the 2016 F-150 with an available gaseous-fuel prep package that enables 5.0L V-8-powered models to run on clean, low-cost compressed natural gas or propane. This makes Ford the only manufacturer of a CNG/propane-capable half-ton pickup. The CNG/propane capable F-150’s will be available to order this summer with a factory-installed, gaseous-fuel prep package that includes upgraded intake and exhaust valves and valve seats to ensure the engine performs to Ford standards.

2016 F-150 trucks running on CNG or propane will be able to tow the same amount as if they were running on gasoline. Payload capability is the same as well – minus the weight of the installed CNG or propane system.