High-Performance AWD Jaguar Models

According to a report from Autocar, we can expect to see more special models from the same people who brought us the Range Rover Sport SVR, the company's most powerful SUV to date, but the SVR badge won't be limited to just SUVs.

Former Land Rover boss John Edwards told Autocar that the new Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations vehicles will be divided into categories: luxury, performance, and all-terrain. The SVR badge could be used to label Jaguar's extreme all-wheel-drive models in the future, though Edwards said the brand needs to properly "define the DNA" before a decision is made. 

The SVR moniker could also be applied to high-powered diesel vehicles, which would help the performance brand appeal to European markets. Meanwhile, the team at JLR Special Operations is also looking at a Project 8 vehicle as a follow-up to the 567-hp Jaguar F-Type Project 7.

Another new model on the horizon from Jaguar Land Rover's Special Operations division will be a swan song edition of the Defender. The special-edition Defender will arrive next year to commemorate the end of the Defender's production run in 2015. The vehicle will be somewhat reminiscent of Camel Trophy and Paris-Dakar competitors.

Along with injecting extra power into Jaguar Land Rover vehicles, the Special Operations division is also known for maintaining the company's heritage. The Special Operations heritage subdivision is now offering the public an opportunity to drive classic Jags near the company's testing facility in Warwickshire, England.

Jaguar Land Rover Mulling U.S

Soon, not all Jaguars and Land Rovers will be born in the U.K. at Castle Bromwich and Solihull, as manufacturing facilities are planned elsewhere in the world. Now, rumors suggest the automaker is looking to expand its operations further by building a plant in the U.S.  2015 Land Rover Discovery Sport Front Three Quarter In Motion 02 British newspaper The Sunday Times reports that the luxury automaker has been talking with southern U.S. states like South Carolina about financial support for a factory that would eventually produce 200,000 vehicles a year. 

Although the automaker hasn't confirmed whether or not this is true, the possibility of U.S.-built Jags and Land Rovers doesn't seem too far-fetched considering the automaker has already expanded its manufacturing efforts into China, with plans to build a facility in Brazil as well. "Jaguar Land Rover has ambitions to expand its international manufacturing footprint. 

We open our first ever overseas manufacturing facility, in China, this week and start construction on our second, in Brazil, at the end of the year. No decision has been taken on future manufacturing locations. But we will continue to evaluate opportunities to increase our international manufacturing footprint, primarily in markets with significant growth potential and customer demand," a spokesman told us. 

The U.S. continues to be an important market for the British automaker, and with the arrival of new vehicles such as the Land Rover Discovery Sport and the Jaguar XE compact sedan, customer demand can only go up, making the U.S. a promising place for a Jaguar Land Rover plant. If the automaker were to build a factory in South Carolina, it would share the state with BMW, which has a huge manufacturing facility in Spartanburg.