Advertisement

Kahn Cosworth Sport 300: first batch of 80 cars for Saudi Arabian royal family!

October 28, 2008 at 11:51 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Land Rover

Kahn Cosworth Sport 300

It must be great to be in the royal family of a country of which oil consists of 90% of its exports. The Saudi Arabian royal family purchased 80 units of the new Kahn Cosworth Sport 300 SUV based on the Range Rover Sport just because they wanted the cars before anyone else. I suppose the global recession is non-existant in countries of which economies are driven by petroleum exports.

The Kahn Cosworth Sport 300 is a joint venture between Cosworth and Kahn Design, headed by CEO Afzal Kahn. The Sport 300 carries a £20,000 premium over the Range Rover Sport’s regular price tag of £55,000, and for the 20k pounds you get an additional 32 horsepower from the car’s turbodiesel V8 engine, resulting in a total of 300 horses. The styling is by Kahn design, which includes flared wheel arches and 22 inch alloy wheels.

Look after the jump for a couple of more shots of the new Saudi fleet.
[Read more...]

37 Comments    

New Land Rovers now available for booking!

October 20, 2008 at 6:50 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Land Rover, Local News

Land Rover Freelander 2

Sime Darby Auto Connexion Sdn Bhd is now accepting bookings for a new range of Land Rover vehicles in Malaysia. The following is a short summary of specs and prices for the new Land Rovers.

The Land Rover Freelander 2 Td2 (shown above, also known as the LR2 in North America) is going for RM272,000 and comes with a 2.2 litre Ford-Peugeot turbodiesel engine mated to a 6-speed automatic transmission that produces 160 horsepower.

For those that need something larger, the new Land Rover Discovery 3 TdV6 (called the LR3 in North America) comes with a 2.7 litre turbodiesel V6 engine producing 190 horsepower and is available for RM382,000.

Those that have deeper pockets can opt for the Range Rover Sport in 2 variants – a 190hp 2.7 litre turbodiesel V6 version priced from RM522,000 and a 4.4 litre normally aspirated V8 version from RM565,000. The flagship Range Rover is available with a 272hp 3.6 litre V8 diesel for RM624,000.

All of the models above come with a 3 year or 100,000km warranty, whichever comes first. They will be available for test drive at a public test drive event at the Royal Selangor Club at Bukit Kiara on the 25th and 26th of October 2008, 10am until 5pm.

11 Comments    


New 7-seater Land Rover L486 coming soon!

June 24, 2008 at 5:04 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Land Rover

Land Rover LogoLand Rover will be adding a new 7-seater model to its product line-up in 2012, Autocar UK revealed today. The new 7-seater is known internally as the L486, and will be based on the Freelander platform (L359).

The Land Rover Freelander is based on Ford’s EUCD platform. The EUCD platform also underpins vehicles such as the 7-seater Ford S-MAX, so it should be no issue to stretch the Freelander’s 2,659mm wheelbase to somewhere over 2,800mm to accomodate the additional row of seats and maintain luggage space.

The new 7-seater Land Rover L486 will be more road-oriented rather than an off-roading vehicle, providing customers with the choice of a people carrier combined with rugged and desirable Land Rover styling. Powertrain and all-wheel drive systems will likely be carried over from the L359 Freelander, which features a front wheel drive biased system, sending torque to the rear wheels only when there is slipping.

3 Comments    

Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma Concept

May 11, 2008 at 5:13 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Land Rover, Local News

Sime Darby’s Land Rover (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd displayed its Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma concept at the Defence Services Asia 2008 exhibition this month, and Land Rover Malaysia says the concept attracted a high level of interest from the Malaysian Armed Forces and numerous foreign visitors.

The Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma Concept was developed in Malaysia by Land Rover Malaysia and Sasbilt Technologies Malaysia. It features a long wheelbase of 3302mm and the 6-wheeler can run on either 4 wheels (6X4) or all 6 wheels (6X6).

The long wheelbase enables the use of a custom body which can accommodate an electric generator in the rear compartment and a spacious cabin for radio and satellite equipment and at least four crew members. The cabin doors are wider to enable easy access and loading of radio equipment. A full-size antenna can be mounted on the roof for the 6X4 Puma Concept to be used as a VSAT satellite vehicle in the battlefield.

It is powered by Land Rover’s Ford Duratorq “Puma” 2.4 litre common rail turbodiesel engine. Depending on tuning, it can produce between 74hp to 135hp and between 185Nm to 285Nm of torque.

One more rear shot after the jump.
[Read more...]

23 Comments    

Tata buys Jaguar and Land Rover for US$2.3 billion

March 28, 2008 at 6:25 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, India, International News, Jaguar, Land Rover, Tata

Jaguar LogoThe Jaguar and Land Rover deal has been sealed, and the two companies go to Tata Motors, which will pay US$2.3 billion for them. As part of the deal, Ford will inject US$600 million of the US$2.3 billion into the two companies’ pension funds, leaving about US$1.7 billion remaining for Ford’s coffers. Ford will have no stake in the companies after the sale is completed.

Most of the management team will be retained, and Ford will continue to supply Jaguar and Land Rover with powertrains and technology for the time being, depending on existing supply agreements. Ford Motor Credit Co will also provide financing for Jaguar and Land Rover dealers and customers for the period of up to 12 months. The deal includes the Rover, Daimler and Lanchester brand names.

Tata Motors says it was confident this investment would have a positive effect on its balance sheet in the long run. Shareholders do not seem to share these sentiments as Tata Motors shares dropped as much as 7.3% yesterday, finally settling on a 3.6% drop at the end of the day as analysts says the deal will be a strain on the balance sheet. As for Ford, the money will help it focus on turning around its North American operations, which are currently operating at a loss.

The other bids for Jaguar and Land Rover are former Ford CEO Jacques Nasser’s One Equity Partners, Ripplewood, and Texas Pacific Group, which was advised by Bob Dover, CEO of Jaguar and Land Rover between 2002 and 2003.

27 Comments    

Land Rover Black and Silver LRX Hybrid Concept

March 21, 2008 at 4:41 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Concept Cars, Land Rover

Land Rover LRX Hybrid Concept

Land Rover has unveiled a second version of its LRX Concept which was first shown at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show. This version is called the Land Rover Black and Silver LRX Hybrid Concept and is powered by a 2.0 litre turbodiesel hybrid powertrain.

Land Rover claims the diesel hybrid can achieve a fuel economy of 4.7 litres per 100km on the European combined cycle, and produces CO2 emissions of 120g/km. No performance figures were quoted, so Land Rover must be really focusing on the fuel economy aspect of this concept.

The LRX Hybrid Concept’s Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) allows the LRX Hybrid Concept to run on electric drive alone at lower speeds of up to 32km/h, with the turbodiesel engine able to start automatically and smoothly on demand while on the move. This engine can run on biodiesel fuel.

It is a compact SUV, or cross-coupe as Land Rover calls it. The LRX Hybrid Concept is 149mm shorter and 205mm lower than the Land Rover LR2 (Freelander 2), but will be positioned above it as a more premium compact vehicle.

Related Posts:
Land Rover LRX Concept from Detroit 2008
[Read more...]

25 Comments    

Fiat happy about Tata’s Jaguar/Land Rover buy

February 5, 2008 at 7:29 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Alfa Romeo, Cars, Fiat, India, International News, Jaguar, Land Rover, Tata

Jaguar LogoTata is inching very closely to acquiring Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford Motor Company, and everyone is already assuming the two companies are in Tata’s hands, in a deal that analysts have pegged at being worth between US$1.5 to US2.0 billion.

One company that is very happy about all of this is Fiat, who has a close relationship with Tata. Tata uses Fiat turbodiesel engines in their cars, and the two companies have a partnership worth Rs 4000 crore (3.3 billion ringgit) in India.

Fiat says this will most likely allow the Italian company to get access to Jaguar’s technologies. It is particularly interested in Jaguar’s rear wheel drive platform as well as Land Rover’s four-wheel drive technology. Yup, you guessed right – the first model from the Fiat group to benefit from this is most likely the new flagship Alfa Romeo 169, which Fiat plans to develop as a rear wheel drive car.

Related Posts:
Ford may forgo retained stake in Jaguar and Land Rover

17 Comments    

Ford may forgo small stake in Jaguar / Land Rover

January 31, 2008 at 6:06 am By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, India, International News, Jaguar, Land Rover, Tata

Jaguar LogoTata is on both ends of the car market right now, from one of the cheapest cars around that is the Tata Nano right up to two luxury brands that they are about to purchase from the Ford Motor Company, Jaguar and Land Rover.

While the original plan was for Ford to keep a minority stake in the company as it has done with Aston Martin (it retains a US$77 million out of US$925 million stake), Indian paper the Economic Times has reported that Ford has decided not to retain a minority stake in Land Rover and Jaguar as “it is convinced about the future development of these two brands in the hands of Tata.”

Ford’s earlier intention of holding a minority stake in the two companies, as with Aston Martin, was to ensure supply contracts and jobs are protected. Analysts have pegged the deal at worth between US$1.5 to US2.0 billion.

Source

7 Comments    

Land Rover LRX Concept

December 14, 2007 at 9:20 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, International News, Land Rover

Land Rover LRX Concept

The Land Rover LRX Concept will be making its public debut at the 2008 North American International Auto Show early next year. The 3-door compact SUV is smaller than the smallest LR2 (Freelander 2) in Land Rover’s product lineup, and is described as a “cross-coupe” by Land Rover executives, a term also used by companies like Audi with their Cross Quattro Concept and BMW with their BMW X6.

The LRX Concept carries over existing Land Rover design languages well – the clamshell hood and sharp lines for instance. Ride and handling for the concept has been tuned to lean towards on-road performance, but it is still equipped with off-road technologies like Hill Descent Control, and Terrain Response.

More photos including interior shots after the jump.
[Read more...]

21 Comments    

Ford might sell Jaguar and Land Rover

June 15, 2007 at 5:46 pm By Paul Tan Filed Under Cars, Fiat, Ford, International News, Jaguar, Land Rover, Rumours

xf1.jpg

The latest whispers being passed around dinner tables in the automotive industry are that Jaguar and Land Rover are currently on the table, and potential buyers are Fiat. It seems that talks started in February this year but ended last month, with no resolution. Sources say the talks were dropped because Fiat was concerned on how the Jaguar would affect Fiat’s credit rating. Fiat would have benefited from Jaguar’s rear wheel drive platforms if the sale had gone through.

With rumours of BMW being interested in Volvo, and most of Aston Martin shares recently being sold, it seems Ford Motor Co is looking to offload all of it’s Premier Automotive Group (PAG) brands.

PAG lost US$327 million before taxes last year, it’s third loss in a row for three years. Jaguar has lost the most money apparently, a total of between US$500 million to US$1 billion since 2001. Land Rover has gained traction recently though, pardon the pun :)

Source

19 Comments