I guess 2015 couldn’t start with just good news. Sunday the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-30673439) reported that a car transporter ship was grounded in the Solent deliberately after it began to list. According to the news channel:
>The Hoegh Osaka was run aground off the Isle of Wight on Saturday evening after developing problems once it had left Southampton, Ingar Skiaker, chief executive of Hoegh Autoliners said. The ship is now listing at more than 50 degrees and a salvage operation is expected to take several days. However, no oil is thought to have leaked from the ship.
Those of you familiar with the BMW/MINI delivery process know that Hoegh Autoliners is one of the shipping companies used to transport cars across the Pond. And from what we gather, it appears that 65 MINIs were on board at the time of the incident. While this is quite unfortunate, it is a relatively low number compare to the [1,200 vehicles Jaguar/Land Rover lost in the process](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-30677320). Although Oxford will probably shift production priorities to make up for the lost cars, US customers shouldn’t be directly affected by the incident as the ship’s original destination was Germany and the Middle-East.
<p>Joking apart, Jaguar is actually one of the fastest growing brands in Germany, and for that matter in the World, and is led by the indefatigable Dr Ralf D. Speth, who is German. He started his automotive career with BMW in 1980, and in 2007 joined the Ford Motor Company’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) as Director of Production, Quality and Product Planning. In February 2010 he became CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Under his leadership, Jaguar is starting to make serious money, helped by the impressive success of the F-Type sports car, and is now a serious rival to Audi, BMW and MB, with engineering advances and designs even habitual BMW buyers can envy.</p>
<p>The cars probably weren’t bound for Germany, the ship would have picked up more cars from Germany as the ship was only a third full when it keeled over</p>
<p>Germans buy Jaguars?</p>
<p>Of course, BM’s and Merc’s are as common as muck over there! :)</p>
<p>Joking apart, Jaguar is actually one of the fastest growing brands in Germany, and for that matter in the World, and is led by the indefatigable Dr Ralf D. Speth, who is German. He started his automotive career with BMW in 1980, and in 2007 joined the Ford Motor Company’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) as Director of Production, Quality and Product Planning. In February 2010 he became CEO of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). Under his leadership, Jaguar is starting to make serious money, helped by the impressive success of the F-Type sports car, and is now a serious rival to Audi, BMW and MB, with engineering advances and designs even habitual BMW buyers can envy.</p>
<p>The JLR turnaround has been remarkable to watch.</p>
<p>The cars probably weren’t bound for Germany, the ship would have picked up more cars from Germany as the ship was only a third full when it keeled over</p>
<p>Reports said this ship was bound for the middle east.</p>