Ford’s Reliability Suffers in Consumer Reports Survey, Japanese Brands Rule and Europeans are a Mixed Bag

Consumer Reports has published its 2011 annual auto survey in which the main point of interest, as the report states, is a sharp decline in Ford’s so far “solid reliability record”: the Detroit carmaker dropped 10 places in the overall reliability ranks.

According to CR's survey, which is based on responses from 1.3 million vehicles owners, Ford’s drop from 10th to 20th place among 28 carmakers can be attributed to two main factors. The first is that all three of Ford’s new models, i.e. the Explorer, Fiesta and Focus, scored below average in reliability in their first year on the market.

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Car Nut Heaven: London’s US$7,875 a Night Jaguar Suite

If James Bond ever needed a permanent residence in London, chances are it would look a lot like 51 Buckingham Gate Taj Suites and Residences’ Jaguar Suite.

Costing £5,100 (US$7,875) a night and decked out in oak veneer, leather, damask and stainless steel, general manager Prabhat Verma describes the suite as a, “24-hour Jaguar immersion experience”.

There are also historical photos, framed hood ornaments and 1:100 scale model cars scattered throughout.

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Top Gear Spotted Filming Christmas Special in India [with Video]

In a recent interview with WitneyTV, Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson let slip out that this year's Christmas special episode will take place in India.

Being that all episodes are filmed several months before they hit the airwaves, it doesn't come as a surprise that the British TV show's crew were snagged in Mumbai this month.

Along with a short video clip showing Richard Hammond and a modified classic MINI Cooper that we found on Youtube, the guys over at IndianAutosBlog tipped us off about a set of pictures they took during the filming of the Christmas episode of Top Gear.

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Report: Jaguar and Land Rover to Build Cars in China in Partnership with Chery

What do you do when you are a luxury carmaker and sales aren’t going as well as expected? Simple: you invest in China, as despite the cooling car market, buyers continue to have an appetite for foreign luxury cars.

In July, we reported that Jaguar and Land Rover owner, Tata Motors, would invest heavily in the two brands in order to improve their sales, especially those of Jaguar, which are on a sharp decline.

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