‘Le Jog’ is the rather odd name of the endurance rally organised by the Historic Endurance Rally Association for its annual Lands End to John O’Groats event for classic cars. This year’s event had one equally unlikely entrant in a Volkswagen Iltis from the German manufacturer’s Classic Collection. This winter rally follows the theme of many classic rallies in that it is not an outright speed event, but includes reliability and navigational tests over its 1500 miles. The VW Iltis is a four-wheel drive machine that is often said to be the precursor to the Audi Quattro range, and this particular Type 183 model was a similar specification to models that have previously competed in the Paris-Dakar in 1980. Only 10,000 Iltis were ever built, but the spartan machine has played a significant part in the German manufacturer’s 4×4 heritage. For ‘Le Jog’, the vehicle was driven by the female team of Steffi Edelhoff and Sandra Wukovich, no strangers to VW and long distance events, since they have already toured the world in an Amarok pick-up raising money for the “Be your own hero e.V” – a non-profit organisation that campaigns for the autonomy and self-reliance of girls and young women.

Jaguar Land Rover has become the first British car maker to open a manufacturing plant in Brazil. South America is the latest stop in JLR’s world domination of the luxury SUV and saloon car market, with plans to build a new facility in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro. Construction of the plant will start later this year, with the first vehicles rolling off the line in 2016. The agreement has yet to be fully ratified by the Brazilian government, but it is expected that the plant will be able to produce 24,000 vehicles annually. JLR has had a presence in Brazil with a dealership network of some 25 outlets and 2013 has seen increased sales of some 40 per cent over the previous year, selling just under 10,000 Evoques, Freelanders and Discoverys in a 10-month period. Given the plans, this number can be expected to rise dramatically over the next few years.

A Honda CR-V 1.6 i-DTEC competed in the recent MPG Marathon event, driven by two independent drivers, and managed a significantly impressive 77.86mpg. The test was covered over two days and included some 500+ miles over a variety of roads and conditions, at speeds that are described by the organisers as ‘real-world driving.’ While it has to be noted that the two drivers, John Kerswill and Ian McKean are highly experienced regulars at the MPG Marathon, organised by Fleet World magazine, and therefore know exactly how to drive as economically as possible, the overall result is still very impressive. Perhaps readers that actually own a similar CR-V could let us know if they have ever achieved such a figure? We would like to hear from you. And if you are looking for a particularly economical 4×4, then the Honda CR-V is now available for £239 a month on a zero per cent finance plan over three years, complete with a five year complimentary servicing plan. Contact your local Honda dealer for more details.

In the last issue, we commented on how the new Porsche Macan had effectively turned Porsche into a full-blown SUV manufacturer, that happens to sideline in sports cars. News this month from Audi confirms that at present some 28 per cent of this manufacturer’s sales are SUV models, and this is expected to rise to 35 per cent in 2020. This growth will certainly be supported by a new ‘small’ SUV, the Q1. Audi’s ‘Q’ series of four-wheel drive SUVs have now totalled some 250,000 vehicles since the first model was launched in 2006.

There’s not much detail yet about the Q1, but Audi’s CEO Rupert Stadler has declared it will be “a key component of our growth strategy. It is designed on the basis of the modular transverse engine concept and will round off our Q series at the bottom end.” Slightly odd choice of words, and the publicity sketch released by the company does little to show what the new compact SUV will look like, looking more like a teenager’s doodle of some proposed PlayStation computer game machine. However, it can be expected that it leans towards the small ‘sporting’ section of the SUV market. The Q1 will be produced in Ingolstadt and the first models are not expected until 2016.