Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) India has launched a new collection of branded goods under the name 2015 Lifestyle Collection. JLR’s new collection boasts of clothing, gifts, accessories and luggage items for both men and women . The luxury marque’s design team has specifically designed and developed all the items in-house. The carmaker hopes to lure JLR customers and enthusiasts with their new 2015 collection.

The 2015 Jaguar Collection includes the Heritage’57 and an all-new Lifestyle Collection. The former collection has been designed to pay homage to one of the most successful periods in Jaguar’s racing history and is inspired by the winning No.3 car. This special collection includes T-Shirts, holdall, men’s drivers jacket, zip-through jacket, paddock shirt, caps, scarves for men and women, key-ring etc. Other Jaguar accessories are wallets, cufflinks, sunglasses, card-holders, leather briefcase, iPad holder, iPhone cover, etc. There’s also special gift items such as scale models of Jaguar cars, mugs, iPhone cases, USB pendrives, pen, notebooks, keyrings, and umbrellas amongst other items.

Land Rover Branded Goods

The 2015 Land Rover Collection, according to the company, has been designed to add a dash of off-road spirit and adventure to the wardrobe. Land Rover is also offering a Kid’s Collection and these comprise of the iconic Adventure Bear, T-shirts for boys and girls, baseball caps and toy models. Clothing apparels for the grown ups include t-shirts, caps and scarves. Just like with Jaguar’s range of products, Land Rover’s lineup of accessories and gift items are identical. Items such as wallets, cufflinks, card-holders, leather briefcase, iPad and iPhone cases etc finish off the accessories department, while Land Rover scale models, mugs, USB pendrives, pen, notebooks, keyrings and umbrellas wrap up the gift section of goods.

Detailed pricing of each item provided in the gallery below. Click on the images to expand.

Jaguar Land Rover has appointed Pride Motors as its new dealer in Hyderabad. Pride Motors, Hyderabad, will offer the entire range of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles through the facility located at Rd No.36, Jubilee Hills and a fully equipped workshop at Serilingampally, Botanical Garden Road, Kondapur.

Rohit Suri, President, Jaguar Land Rover India Ltd (JLRIL) says that Pride Motors will provide Jaguar Land Rover customers with ultimate premium services and class-defining ownership experience that one expects from the Brands.

Land Rover Branded Goods

The Jaguar range in India includes F–TYPE (starting at INR 126 Lacs in CBU form) and locally manufactured XF (starting at INR 47.15 Lacs) and XJ (starting at INR 96.05 Lacs). The Land Rover range in India includes the flagship Range Rover (starting at INR 182 Lacs in CBU form), Range Rover Sport (starting at INR 116 Lacs in CBU form) and Discovery 4 (starting at INR 111 Lacs in CBU form) and locally manufactured Range Rover Evoque (starting at INR 48.73 Lacs) and Freelander 2 (starting at INR 41.82 Lacs).

Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles are available in India through 22 authorised outlets in Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bhubaneswar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi (at Janpath & Mathura Road), Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kochi, Karnal, Ludhiana, Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune and Raipur.

Tata Motors Group, that includes its posh arm – Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), has recorded global sales of 76,602 units in June 2015. According to Tata Motors, these sales figures haven’t dipped when compared to their sales figures of June 2014. Cumulative wholesales for this fiscal for the Group stood at 233,487 units, which is higher by 2 percent over the last fiscal.

2016 Jaguar XJ (5)

June 2015 sales of Tata Motors’ Daewoo range and commercial vehicles stood at 31,083 units, which is identical to the Group’s sales figure of June 2014. As for the cumulative sales figure of Tata Motors’ commercial division, it remained flat at 86,766 units this fiscal. Global wholesales of all passenger vehicles in June 2015 at 45,519 units grew by 3 percent, compared to June 2014. Cumulative passenger vehicles wholesales for this fiscal were 146,721 units, a growth of 4 percent over last fiscal. Tata Motors’ recorded passenger vehicles sales in June 2015 were at 10,611 units, higher by 29 percent over June 2014. Cumulative sales for the fiscal were at 32,269 units are higher by 27 percent compared to the previous fiscal.

Land-Rover-Holland-and-Holland-Special-1

Jaguar Land Rover’s worldwide sales were 34,908 units, which includes Chery Automobiles’ and JLR’s (CJLR) sales. CJLR is a joint venture between JLR and Chery Automobiles and is an unconsolidated subsidiary for JLR. Sales of Jaguar vehicles for June 2015 were recorded to be 7,087 units, and cumulative sales for the period stood at 21,202 units. Sales of Land Rover vehicles for the month were 27,821 units, and cumulative sales stood at 93,250 units. Finally, cumulative sales for Jaguar Land Rover for the fiscal stood at 114,452 vehicles.

Earlier this year we sampled the 2014 Ducati Monster 1200 S and found it to be the best Monster yet. The water-cooled Testastretta 11 engine, Brembo brakes and Ohlins suspension made for a package that blew our Italian loafers off. Now I’m in the home of Ducati (Bolonga, Italy) to take a spin on the logical next chapter in the Monster story – the 2015 Monster 821. The spec sheet isn’t quite as lofty as the 1200 but there is plenty to like about the 821. In fact, the Monster 821 is my favorite naked Ducati thus far.

Ducati followed the formula used for the larger 1200cc Monster, fitting a liquid-cooled engine, a longer wheelbase and a more comfortable perch for both rider and passenger. While the biggest Monster targets more experienced riders, Ducati claims the intended customer for the 821 is existing Monsteristi, brand-switchers and new riders. Women fit the demo for the Monster 821 as well. After a day on the bike I would say that this new mid-sized Monster is a great fit for just about anyone.


Starting with the chassis, the 821 gets a small trellis frame that bolts to the cylinder heads of the Testastretta. Ducati’s numbers show the new chassis is 99% stiffer than the outgoing Monster 796’s unit while being 2.71 pounds lighter. The steel trellis subframe is also 2.43 pounds less than the 796’s rear frame. Even so, the 821’s wet weight of 453 pounds is 38 pounds above the 796. Some of that additional weight comes from the additional 1.02 gallons of fuel capacity. The rest we assume is the radiator, cooling system components and the physically larger engine.

Although every dimension of the 821 is larger it feels light and small, especially once underway. Handling in the city is nimble and fleet-footed, changing direction with an ease and quickness that the larger 1200 just can’t match.

During the first half of our day on the 821, the rain kept our speeds and aggression in check, and the only impression I was able to get was how light the medium Monster felt. Not really a complete review. Luckily later in the day the skies cleared, the pavement dried up and I was able to flog the 821. Turn-in is light, tipping in with a just a little body English and the rest of the corner is just as good – as long as the road is smooth.


The non-adjustable 43mm Kayaba front fork and Sachs cantilever rear shock are sprung softly and damped to match. In the city the ride is comfortable, but when hustling through bumpy corners the chassis can become upset. This makes it more difficult to hold a line at breakneck speed, but at 85 to 90% speed it is perfectly acceptable. While this may seem like a serious dig on the 821, I still feel the 821 is easier to handle at almost any speed than the larger Monster. It made me grin ear to ear even when it was bucking around in the rough sections of pavement.

Ducati followed the formula used for the larger 1200cc Monster fitting a liquid-cooled Testastretta engine to the Monster 821.
Toggling through the riding modes is simple on the Monsters LCD dash but making changes to traction control and ABS settings is more cumbersome than the TFT displays on the Monster 1200.
Crack the throttle to the stop in Sport mode in first and second gear and the front wheel will rise but without the snap of larger displacement naked bikes.
(Above) Ducati followed the formula used for the larger 1200cc Monster, fitting a liquid-cooled Testastretta engine to the Monster 821. (Middle) Toggling through the riding modes is simple on the Monster’s LCD dash, but making changes to traction control and ABS settings is more cumbersome than the TFT displays on the Monster 1200. (Below) Crack the throttle to the stop in Sport mode in first and second gear and the front wheel will rise, but without the snap of larger displacement naked bikes.
The 821.1cc, 112-horsepower Testastretta 11 is lively yet easy to handle. Crack the throttle to the stop in Sport mode in first and second gear and the front wheel will rise, but without the snap of larger displacement naked bikes. The engine torques off the bottom with a satisfying grunt that is also very easy to reign in. The mid-range is healthy while the top-end tapers off as you reach the 11,000 rpm limit.

In Touring the power is slightly tempered with a less sharp throttle response. The Ducati Safety Pack’s traction control is also raised to level 4 from the Sport setting of 2. ABS is also increased from Level 1 (which will allow to the rear wheel to lift) to Level 2, which prevents the rear wheel from lifting too high. The third riding mode, Urban, is docile with 75hp, Level 6 traction control and Level 3 ABS. This setting worked well on the rain-slick roads in the mountains above Bologna. The engine character of the 821 is just sporty enough to entertain the most hardcore riders but also less-threatening to new or less experienced riders. Very few powerplants span such a wide range.

Toggling through the riding modes is simple on the Monster’s LCD dash, but making changes to traction control and ABS settings is more cumbersome than the TFT displays on the Monster 1200, Panigale and Diavel. Once you figure out the system, it is fairly straightforward but still more tedious.

The seating position of the Monster 821 is fairly upright with just a slight bend forward to the bars, which have been moved back 40mm and up 40mm for a more relaxed reach. The new seat mirrors the 1200’s unit with more padding and an adjustable height of 30.9” to 31.9” that makes for an easy reach to the pavement. Everything feels solid and placed perfectly for all day comfort. The only criticisms of the rider area would be that the rubber footpegs become unnervingly slick when wet and a slit in the rear fender allows for water to fling all over the rider’s back.

Braking performance from the M83 Monbloc front calipers and radial mount master cylinder is less refined that we have come to expect from Ducati. The initial lever movement would vary from soft and mushy to grabby depending on the speed of your trigger finger. Once you adapted to the lever the power was there to stop you with authority and never let me down. The rear brake offers a mushy feel as well.

So why with its flaws would I say the Monster 821 is the best example yet? At $11,495 the 821 is more affordable while still offering up plenty of power, a nimble chassis and all-day long comfort. Yes, the suspension may be a touch soft and the brakes may not be as stellar as the Monster 1200’s, but for the price you can’t beat the fun-per-dollar ratio from the 821. Not to mention, it is easier to ride 95% of the time. It’s everything Monsters have been from the start – a sum much greater than its less exotic parts that puts a smile on your face every time you crack the throttle.


2015 Ducati Monster 821 First Ride

I've done bad things. I have committed crimes beyond incessant speeding. I have stolen. I have lied. I have cheated. I may have forgotten to put any of it on my résumé. But I haven't transgressed enough to earn a new S8. This is a villainous luxury car, one so wicked that merely hopping behind the wheel should make you a person of interest to Interpol.

Yes, for the 2013 model year, Audi has recast the S8 as a sedan mastermind, dumping the old model's 450-hp V-10 like a disloyal henchman. The replacement 4.0-liter V-8 is the twin-turbocharged and features cylinder deactivation that allows it to run as a V-4, just like in the A8. But here it's making 520 horses and 481 pound-feet of torque. That's 100 more horsepower and an additional 75 pound-feet compared with the A8, thanks to more boost (15.9 psi versus 12.3), revised valve timing, and more efficient intake plumbing.

This violent V-8 makes Audi's plot to take over the world likely to happen more swiftly. It goes from zero to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, needs just 8.5 seconds to reach 100, and tricks through the quarter-mile in 11.9 seconds at 118 mph. Never mind that the S8 is a 4620-pound car that comfortably seats five. It drives a class or two smaller, as if it's been hit with a shrink ray. At times you would swear it's an A4, except for the better steering feel and an exhaust note as heavy as a San Quentin life sentence.


Despite the S8's hyper performance, half the appeal is in its ability to induce amnesia in witnesses. The S8 never has been flashy, and this new model retains the A8's subtlety, drawn to resemble nothing more shapely than a cudgel. Even its interior doesn't offer much to distinguish the S8 from the regular A8, save for standard carbon-fiber and aluminum trim. The latter serves as a reminder of the aluminum-intensive space frame that Audi pioneered in 1994 and that the A8 range, with redesigns, continues to use today.

All that metal (even the speaker grilles on the $6300 Bang & Olufsen audio system are aluminum) led to this stray thought under heavy braking: "If I ball this thing up, they can hose me out and recycle the rest into Pepsi cans." Fortunately, the brakes bite like four vampires, stopping the car from 70 mph in just 156 feet. The S8 shares its anchor hardware from the long-wheelbase A8 W12, with 15.7-inch discs in the front and 14.0-inchers in the rear. A big brake pedal (trimmed in aluminum, of course) imparts an even, progressive feel, with the first quarter of its travel sufficient for stopping without alarming passengers. The rest of its arc forces the six-piston front calipers closed with the sort of seatbelt-straining force that makes your neck hurt.

The S8's forward weight bias and all-wheel drive yield ample understeer at the cornering limit. With its standard 21-inch wheels set in Continental ContiSportContact 5P rubber, we measured 0.90 g on the skidpad. On the freeway, nothing upsets the big car, though rolling hills can cause it to feel a bit more like its true size. The impressive handling comes via an air-suspension system with four settings. Further adjustability in the steering, throttle and transmission ensure Audi Drive Select has option overkill.

Dial them all to "comfort," and the car just drives like an A8, with light steering effort and a lazy throttle. "Automatic" allows for a bit of initial softness before firming things up if you start turning and burning. The "individual" mode allows you to pick different settings for every option, though that's unnecessary. Sticking with "dynamic" across the board works so well that you can set it and forget it. Similarly, the eight-speed ZF automatic can be shifted with steering-wheel-mounted paddles, but they become superfluous once you drop the shift lever into sport and the transmission perks up.


But why pay the extra money for the S8 if you can, through the car's many selectable modes, turn it back into the A8? Perhaps it's not because there's demand for such distractions, but because Audi's engineers are simply fascinated with complexity. Once upon a time, BMW's M cars came with steel springs and no push buttons, and we loved them for it. You paid one big price for the superlative tune. End of discussion.

The S8's $110,895 base sticker is $29,100 more than a V-8 powered A8. Purchase decisions in this class rarely hinge on price, but the S8 starts at tens of thousands less than a BMW Alpina B7 or a Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG, cars it outguns both in raw performance and behind-the-wheel enjoyment. Whether driving it like it's the chase car in Ronin or cutting a low profile, the S8 has a mechanical arsenal that allows it to run with almost anything on the road. There's no four-door more nefarious.

Your typical new-car launch consists of a dozen or so juvenile-minded writers driving cars they don’t own, burning fuel they didn’t pay for, on roads that have in part been selected for their limited police presence. It’s a suitable arrangement for evaluating a car’s major attributes: acceleration, handling, ride quality, interior quietness, and so on—everything except fuel economy. But when efficiency is a vehicle’s top selling point, as it is with the 2014 diesel-powered Audi Q5, automakers do their best to rein in the aggression and keep that message top of mind.

When we first drove its new Q5 TDI late this summer, Audi pulled out an old industry standby created just for this occasion: a fuel-economy challenge, with prizes for the winners. With trinkets on the line—a T-shirt, a keychain, a day-old doughnut; it doesn’t really matter—journalists instinctively sort themselves into one of two camps. The first includes the handful who treat the contest as if they were invited to take a half-court shot for a million bucks, and we fall into the other, shrugging off the game and driving the car as we would any other. (Our technical director, Don Sherman, falls into neither category, preferring to take advantage of every loophole in the rules simply for the satisfaction of stomping the competition into a fine powder.)


It goes without saying, then, that we dipped often and deeply into the turbo-diesel’s 240 horsepower and 428 lb-ft of torque on our drive in Washington, D.C.—and did the same when we recently had an example at our office for real-world testing. With Quattro all-wheel drive keeping wheelspin at bay, the Q5 TDI pulls away from the line on a surge of low-rpm twist good for a 0-to-60 time of 5.8 seconds. For reference, a gas-fired Q5 2.0T we tested for a recent comparo hit 60 in 6.9. In both TDI drive locales, we explored part-throttle passing and accelerator response, probing the limits of where the car calls for a downshift. In many cases, the 3.0-liter V-6 needs only the next lower gear when most gas-powered cars would call for a two- or three-cog downshift. Not that the ZF-supplied eight-speed automatic would mind working harder. The industry-standard conventional automatic in quick shifts and smoothness, it’s as adept at juggling ratios here as it is in countless gas-fed BMWs, Audis, and others. The engine and the transmission are perfectly in sync, delivering assertive thrust that makes the Q5 TDI ideal for slicing through traffic quagmires.

Inside, the TDI sports the same four-spoke steering wheel and revised infotainment controls that were included with last year’s Q5 face lift. The cabin boasts excellent materials, intuitive ergonomics, and great outward visibility, yet the interior styling feels a bit sterile, even by Audi’s ascetic design standard. Shut off the stereo and the HVAC fan, and channel all your concentration into listening for ticking injectors and clattering combustion. You will come up empty-eared. Compared with a gasoline Q5, the TDI radiates a slightly louder but still inoffensive thrum at idle. It’s easier to identify this Q5 as a diesel when the stop-start system restarts the engine with a more pronounced shudder than in its stablemates.


Audi’s Q5 is aimed at the crossover-buying masses, not at enthusiasts. To our tastes, the regular Q5 rolls too much in corners and distances the driver with effortless steering. Yet that wasn’t enough to stop us from finding a rhythm on sinuous Maryland back roads where the Goodyear rubber compensated with exceptional grip, which we were able to quantify in our Ann Arbor example at 0.86 g. Near D.C., we momentarily forgot the Q5’s tall ride height and diesel under the hood and enjoyed snaking through S-bends just below the threshold where the tires start to sing. (The SQ5 aims to bridge the gap between commuter and enthusiast, and the model is even available with a diesel in Europe. Ours will have a 354-hp supercharged gas V-6.)

About that summertime efficiency challenge: We were caught off guard when Audi’s press boss announced that our 35.6-mpg average, weighted with our average speed, won the fuel-economy challenge. Especially because we didn’t do anything to help—it was our driving partner who drove his leg of the route at a playing-to-win pace. (Our prize? A Clean Diesel T-shirt, which now sits among the pile of items we randomly mail to our Backfires members.) We were even more surprised that we had exceeded the EPA’s estimated 24 mpg city and 31 highway fuel-economy ratings by a significant margin. Without someone to balance out our frenetic pace—or an Audi-prescribed route—our test Q5 yielded 27 mpg over 1000 miles in and around Detroit recently. We’d still call the efficiency impressive, given how hard we are on accelerator pedals around here, and the two mileage numbers plus our performance data speak to this crossover’s dual nature—fun and relatively fleet on one hand, fuel efficient on the other. Combine that with the Q5 TDI’s civilized, torquey overall demeanor, and this diesel deserves to be taken seriously.

When we first saw pictures of the face-lifted 2016 Audi A6, we weren't immediately thrilled. One of the brand's more conservative designs looked to have received a lukewarm makeover to the styling it has worn since the current generation arrived as a 2012 model. Yes, the A6’s flowing lines are popular with customers, but to our eyes they always lacked tension, falling just short of Audi’s standards. There was little elegance in the details; its LED headlights were somewhat crude, the overbite of the taillights downright strange.

Audi has cleaned up these details, added rectangular exhaust outlets, and left the rest alone. Now having seen the revised car in person, we are pleasantly surprised. The inner workings of the headlights are subtly handsome, the lower front air intakes look better resolved, and the taillights are more tidily integrated. Audi also added several new, more appealing wheel styles. Without touching the sheetmetal, the designers made a somewhat stale shape more elegant. More importantly, this midterm update goes deeper, improving one of our favorite sedans (it has notched three 10Best appearances and two recent comparison-test victories) in significant ways.

Our first drive in Germany showed that, dynamically, the A6 remains much as it was, a finely hewn road machine that can reward a driver on his favorite back lanes or carry company out for a night on the town in style and comfort. It’s the powertrain upgrades that raise the car’s game to match the crisper appearance.


Hotter Cooking With Gas
As before, the A6 will offer three engine choices in the United States: a 2.0-liter turbo four-banger, a 3.0-liter V-6 TDI, and a 3.0-liter supercharged V-6. The TDI, introduced to this market for 2014, is the only one that carries over unchanged; the 240-hp oil-burner continues to drive all wheels through an eight-speed, torque-converter-style automatic. This stout TDI with its robust 428 lb-ft of torque is the powertrain of choice for those who wish to enjoy hybridlike efficiency without the extra weight and complexity. (An A6 hybrid, never exported to the U.S., has just been killed off due to extremely poor sales.)

The entry-level 2.0-liter model receives a major hardware upgrade. Formerly rated at 220 horsepower and initially made available as a front-driver only, it came with a CVT dubbed “Multitronic.” Now, it gets a boost to 252 horsepower and the addition of a seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission for front-drive models. We wholeheartedly applaud this move; we'll take the crisp shifts of a dual-clutch ’box or even a proper automatic over a CVT's rubber-band effect any day. The power gain also benefits buyers who choose the Quattro all-wheel-drive option, in which case the 2.0T hitches to an eight-speed automatic as it has since Audi added it to the range in 2012.


While the four now offers sufficient power for most settings this side of a racetrack, the silky 3.0-liter V-6 is more fun. This powerplant gains 20 horsepower and is now up to 330. It drives all wheels and employs the same eight-speed automatic as the TDI. The supercharger provides instant boost but is so quiet that its presence is virtually undetectable, except for it generating thrust all out of proportion to what you’d expect. We think that Jaguar—one of the few other carmakers that still swear by superchargers—might wish to take a lesson from Audi's book of quality, comfort, and noise control.

First-Class Accomodations
Even Jaguar—in addition to any other automaker—would be well advised to examine the A6's interior. It remains one of the finest and best-executed cabins in the industry. The similarity to the A7's dashboard (with which it shares the majority of parts) is cleverly masked by the different décor. We have only one significant gripe with this interior: The clumsy dash-top integration of the optional head-up system looks atrocious. We’re assured that the tumorlike lump will be fixed for future model generations, but it should have been done right the first time.

While we’re at it, may we ask Audi to own up to another mistake? Please bring back the Avant wagon model to the States. Especially the RS6 Avant, the mid-size wagon with 560 horsepower and a 190-mph top speed. Audi already sends us the drivetrain in the RS7, so let’s have none of those parts-supply or federalization excuses. Just do it. Meanwhile, good job on the basic sedans. It was time.