The North American International Auto Show in Detroit is synonymous with towering trucks and svelte supercars as America’s big three car manufacturers do all they can to woo domestic buyers. This year, while the likes of Ford’s new GT and Raptor pick-up attracted attention, a number of UK manufacturers also shone at the Detroit Motor Show.
1,300 jobs for Jaguar Land Rover
Jaguar F-PACE will be based on the C-X17 concept shown at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show
Confirmation of Jaguar’s first SUV, the F-PACE, brought with it the promise of 1,300 new jobs at Jaguar Land Rover’s Solihull plant in the West Midlands. The new recruits will help Jaguar Land Rover continue its development of aluminium architecture and lightweighting technology. In 2014 the manufacturer announced investment of £1.5 billion to support the introduction of such technologies, developing new facilities at Solihull.
The Jaguar F-PACE – expected to go on sale in 2016 – will share its advanced aluminium monocoque architecture with the Jaguar XE, which was launched at the 2014 Paris Motor Show.
Bentley Bentayga
Jaguar wasn’t the only brand to reveal details of its first foray into the SUV market. Bentley, which confirmed in 2013 that it would launch its first dual purpose vehicle, announced the new model’s name in Detroit. The Bentayga, named after a mountainscape in Gran Canaria, will be unveiled later this year for sale in 2016.
Bentley has already pledged £800 million to the Bentayga’s development at its headquarters in Crewe, Cheshire, creating 1,000 jobs.
MINI John Cooper Works
The Oxford-built MINI Hatch appeared in its hottest John Cooper Works trim for the first time at the Detroit Motor Show. The MINI John Cooper Works delivers 228bhp from a turbocharged 2.0 engine, making it the most powerful MINI ever produced. The MINI Hatch went on sale in the UK in early 2014, following a £750 million programme to continue MINI’s manufacturing legacy in the UK.
