Just a short bit of housekeeping regarding motoring news from the past couple of days.
Firstly, Jaguar's recent roll, thanks to the XJ and CX75, has ground to a halt. Quite an abrupt one, in the form of hitting a solid barrier at 40mph. The critically acclaimed XF saloon caught the headlines for the wrong reasons in the most recent series of Euro NCAP safety tests for only scoring 4 stars. Since the Renault Laguna first produced a full house of stars back in 2000, it's been generally accepted that any mass produced car bigger than a supermini needs to be scoring 5* also to look credible. Yet the genesis of Jag's current renaissance was marked down due to 'limited occupant protection for adult and child.' Hang on. Where's the safest place to be in this big cat, the boot? The foremost point of safety cells and crumple zones is to protect at all cost those unfortunate enough to be inside the car during an accident. Nevertheless the XF gets a rather embarrassing and one suspects quite preventable black mark for letting these critical elements slip. Next to 5* E-Classes, 5 Series, even a humble VW Polo, the XF is a stand out failure. Yet in so many ways, it's not. It still scored 4*, a thoroughly commendable result, and one which a decade ago would have made it nigh on the safest car in the world. Ironic how since the benchmark has been breached, only the best is quite literally good enough. Jaguar have of course vowed to explore the shortcomings from this and also the unsatisfactory side impact pole test, and implement them into the car's 2012 facelift. Until then, the XF, for all its interior theatrics and apparently superlative drive, will be wading into battle with damp powder against the usual foe.
Still, if your hard earned £35k+ is burning a hole in your pocket while you wait for these issues to be rectified, but you still fancy an attractive British set of wheels, then look no further, though this offering may require putting in a few late shifts. McLaren Automotive have announced that the base price for their hotly anticipated but rubbishly named MP4-12C supercar will be £168,500. This includes the 2011 VAT rise, though not the relatively minor registration and road fund licensing fees. Still, the veritable bargain baby Macca will still undercut its nearest and bitterest rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia, but the thick end of £3000 when they go head to head late in next year. As with the Italian Stallion, once you've specced lightweight forged alloy wheels, carbon fibre trim, curiously heavier-than-steel-equivalent carbon ceramic brakes, and other unnecessaries like upgraded infotainment, Woking's new flagship will set you back getting on for £200k. I found it a bit cheeky that McLaren had elected to undercut Ferrari by such a petty sum. Both marques have pedigree, both have invested heavily in development, and both are fighting for a marketplace where for the most part, money is no object. Pretty cheeky of the British outfit then to deliberately set out to make Maranello's finest look a bit of a rip off.
Finally, rumours are abound of a partnership between VW Group members Porsche and Bentley over a tie-up regarding their future large luxury models. Demand from the Middle East and China is causing manufacturers to re-evaluate their stance on lavish leviathans, with even Maserati announcing this week that it is planning designs on a rival Cayenne-esque superpowered SUV. (Hopefully this won't be styling wise, having seen the monstrous effects of grafting 911 features onto a mud-plugger, the result of adapting a Quattroporté grille onto a psuedo-off roader would create a road-going black hole with Channel Tunnel likenesses.) Anyway, these lucrative markets care not for the intricacies of platform sharing, since despite two cars sharing an identical base architecture, two different badges of the bonnets will probably equal twice as many sales for Volkswagen. Porsc
he chief Matthias Müller is apparently keen to allow Bentley access to the shortened Panamera platfom, to be utilised by Porsche in the upcoming 928 successor. 
This would allow Bentley to fast-track production of a similarly sized and powered grand touring coupé (and possible cabriolet.) Despite the economical benefit, many remain skeptical of the ever-growing VW parts bin incest which becomes increasingly evident, and controversial, with each new release. Nowhere is this dilution of brand attributes more evident than in the usage of VW's 1.4l TSI, DSG-equipped platform to underpin the new Polo GT, Audi A1, Skoda Fabia VRS and SEAT Ibiza Cupra. All are small promising hot hatches, criticized for their lack of individuality and uniqueness, the exact traits and preferences that are so vital in any performance car. 
This evidently counter-argues that platform-sharing actually inverse-proportionally increases the choice and variety of cars around today, rather than erodes it, and has created some of the best loved and most revered automobiles of recent past, present and future. Lambo Aventador anyone?
However, this perception of a slapdash attitudes to streamlining automotive creativity isn't completely watertight. Without such practices, Audi couldn't have sourced the masterpiece Lamborghini V10 which resides in the back of the R8. The Continental GT wouldn't have been able to save the Phaeton investment from being a waste of time by becoming the most profitable car in Bentley's history. And the profitability of all these companies would have been unavailable to utilize in the purchasing of Bugatti and perfection of the Veyron project.
Firstly, Jaguar's recent roll, thanks to the XJ and CX75, has ground to a halt. Quite an abrupt one, in the form of hitting a solid barrier at 40mph. The critically acclaimed XF saloon caught the headlines for the wrong reasons in the most recent series of Euro NCAP safety tests for only scoring 4 stars. Since the Renault Laguna first produced a full house of stars back in 2000, it's been generally accepted that any mass produced car bigger than a supermini needs to be scoring 5* also to look credible. Yet the genesis of Jag's current renaissance was marked down due to 'limited occupant protection for adult and child.' Hang on. Where's the safest place to be in this big cat, the boot? The foremost point of safety cells and crumple zones is to protect at all cost those unfortunate enough to be inside the car during an accident. Nevertheless the XF gets a rather embarrassing and one suspects quite preventable black mark for letting these critical elements slip. Next to 5* E-Classes, 5 Series, even a humble VW Polo, the XF is a stand out failure. Yet in so many ways, it's not. It still scored 4*, a thoroughly commendable result, and one which a decade ago would have made it nigh on the safest car in the world. Ironic how since the benchmark has been breached, only the best is quite literally good enough. Jaguar have of course vowed to explore the shortcomings from this and also the unsatisfactory side impact pole test, and implement them into the car's 2012 facelift. Until then, the XF, for all its interior theatrics and apparently superlative drive, will be wading into battle with damp powder against the usual foe.
Still, if your hard earned £35k+ is burning a hole in your pocket while you wait for these issues to be rectified, but you still fancy an attractive British set of wheels, then look no further, though this offering may require putting in a few late shifts. McLaren Automotive have announced that the base price for their hotly anticipated but rubbishly named MP4-12C supercar will be £168,500. This includes the 2011 VAT rise, though not the relatively minor registration and road fund licensing fees. Still, the veritable bargain baby Macca will still undercut its nearest and bitterest rival, the Ferrari 458 Italia, but the thick end of £3000 when they go head to head late in next year. As with the Italian Stallion, once you've specced lightweight forged alloy wheels, carbon fibre trim, curiously heavier-than-steel-equivalent carbon ceramic brakes, and other unnecessaries like upgraded infotainment, Woking's new flagship will set you back getting on for £200k. I found it a bit cheeky that McLaren had elected to undercut Ferrari by such a petty sum. Both marques have pedigree, both have invested heavily in development, and both are fighting for a marketplace where for the most part, money is no object. Pretty cheeky of the British outfit then to deliberately set out to make Maranello's finest look a bit of a rip off.
Finally, rumours are abound of a partnership between VW Group members Porsche and Bentley over a tie-up regarding their future large luxury models. Demand from the Middle East and China is causing manufacturers to re-evaluate their stance on lavish leviathans, with even Maserati announcing this week that it is planning designs on a rival Cayenne-esque superpowered SUV. (Hopefully this won't be styling wise, having seen the monstrous effects of grafting 911 features onto a mud-plugger, the result of adapting a Quattroporté grille onto a psuedo-off roader would create a road-going black hole with Channel Tunnel likenesses.) Anyway, these lucrative markets care not for the intricacies of platform sharing, since despite two cars sharing an identical base architecture, two different badges of the bonnets will probably equal twice as many sales for Volkswagen. Porsche chief Matthias Müller is apparently keen to allow Bentley access to the shortened Panamera platfom, to be utilised by Porsche in the upcoming 928 successor. 
This would allow Bentley to fast-track production of a similarly sized and powered grand touring coupé (and possible cabriolet.) Despite the economical benefit, many remain skeptical of the ever-growing VW parts bin incest which becomes increasingly evident, and controversial, with each new release. Nowhere is this dilution of brand attributes more evident than in the usage of VW's 1.4l TSI, DSG-equipped platform to underpin the new Polo GT, Audi A1, Skoda Fabia VRS and SEAT Ibiza Cupra. All are small promising hot hatches, criticized for their lack of individuality and uniqueness, the exact traits and preferences that are so vital in any performance car. 
This evidently counter-argues that platform-sharing actually inverse-proportionally increases the choice and variety of cars around today, rather than erodes it, and has created some of the best loved and most revered automobiles of recent past, present and future. Lambo Aventador anyone?
However, this perception of a slapdash attitudes to streamlining automotive creativity isn't completely watertight. Without such practices, Audi couldn't have sourced the masterpiece Lamborghini V10 which resides in the back of the R8. The Continental GT wouldn't have been able to save the Phaeton investment from being a waste of time by becoming the most profitable car in Bentley's history. And the profitability of all these companies would have been unavailable to utilize in the purchasing of Bugatti and perfection of the Veyron project.
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