DETROIT — A
radical new-model program at Jaguar and Land Rover will
develop two new platforms to form the basis for all the
luxury brands' future models, British magazine Autocar
reports.
The strategy will begin by using the
platform of Jaguar's elegant new XJ sedan — on sale in
the U.S. this spring — as the basis for the next
generation of Land Rover's rugged and luxurious Range
Rover SUV. The XJ's platform is flexible enough to also
support the Range Rover with relatively minor changes to
its floor pan and front and rear crash structures, the
usually well-informed magazine said, adding that the
platform can also support Jag's XK luxury coupe and
roadster.
A second platform will underpin the
brands' smaller future vehicles.
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India's Tata Group, which acquired JLR
from Ford last year, has hired former GM Europe boss
Carl-Peter Forster as CEO of Tata Motors, which produces
Jag, Land Rover and Tata vehicles including the $2,500
Tata Nano. Forster left GM when the automaker decided
not to sell its European operations to supplier Magna
and a Russian bank. Forster strongly supported the sale.
