Autocar confidential: Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo Polestar, Seat, Volkswagen

This week's gossip from the automotive industry has news of Jaguar Land Rover's drivetrain plans for SVR models, future Polestar models, surprising sales figures for the Seat Altea, and the end of Volkswagen's 'Das Auto' tag line.

AWD for SVR

All Jaguar Land Rover SVR models will be four-wheel drive, division boss John Edwards has revealed.

“Some people questioned it with the F-Type SVR, but we made that decision very early on and it has been fully justified. It gives the driver such high levels of confidence and driveability,” he said.

Read more: Jaguar F-Type SVR review, Range Rover Sport SVR review

More Polestars in the pipeline

Volvo insiders say the investment in Polestar means other models alongside the V60 Polestar are inevitable, although no products have been confirmed.

The philosophy is 'performance for the road', rather than the track, and models that can be used in all conditions. However, Polestar’s remit is expected to go beyond speed, with the introduction of bespoke interiors, for example.

Read more: Volvo V60 Polestar review, Volvo S90 Polestar and V90 Polestar to get hybrid power, Volvo V90 D5 review

Axed Altea sales figures

The Seat Altea and Altea XL may have been largely ridiculed in their day, but the firm was still selling 2000 examples per year when production was discontinued last autumn, sources have revealed.

Introduced in 1994, the Altea was an unusual Mk5 Volkswagen Golf-based MPV conceived under the leadership of former BMW boss Bernd Pischetsrieder and design guru Walter de Silva.

Read more: Seat Altea review, Seat Ateca review

End of ‘Das Auto’

Volkswagen’s ‘Das Auto’ tag line is unlikely to return after it was dropped in the wake of the emissions scandal.

However, marketing boss Jürgen Stackmann said this is because VW must evolve from being about ‘the car’ into a services, connectivity and software company, and not because of a need to change perceptions following the negative publicity.

“For now, we will just use the company name: VW,” he said. “It’s the people’s car, a lifelong companion.”

Read more: Volkswagen launches new modular petrol engines, Volkswagen Golf review