Archive for Land Rover

It’s more of a public secret by now but today Land Rover has officially come out to say that a small Land Rover based on the LRX concept will be built! After all, the UK government previously offered a grant of up to GBP 27 million to the automaker to produce an all- new vehicle based on the LRX Concept.

And apparently it’s going to be marketed under the Range Rover badge, since the press release constantly refers to it as a Range Rover instead of a Land Rover. This will mean the Range Rover series will have a third model – small, medium and large.

The original Range Rover is the large model and a new “medium” model was previously added, a model based on the Discovery called the Range Rover Sport. The flagship has a wheelbase of 2,880mm while the smaller Disco-based sport has a wheelbase of 2,745mm. That would make the LRX quite compact indeed as even the new “small” BMW X1 has a wheelbase of 2,760mm, longer than the Sport’s.

The production LRX will be built at Land Rover’s plant in Halewood, and will be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle the company has ever produced. The original LRX concept was a 2-door compact SUV powered by a hybrid powertrain that combined a 2.0 liter turbodiesel and an Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) which allows it to run on zero-emissions electric mode at speeds of up to 32km/h.

“The new vehicle will be a natural extension to the Range Rover line-up, complementing the existing models and helping to define a new segment. It will be true to the concept and have many recognisable Range Rover design cues including the signature clamshell bonnet, the floating roof and the solid ‘wheel-at-each-corner’ stance,” said Gerry McGovern, Land Rover design director.

However I wonder if the UK government’s 27 million pound offer still stands, because of a particular announcement that Tata made today. Their intention is to close either a Jaguar plant in Castle Bromwich, or a Land Rover plant in Solihull, both in central England.

Their intention is probably to centralise production of both marques at a single plant – either Solihull or Castle Bromwich. As it is, the Halewood plant I mentioned above was a Jaguar plant, and the first Land Rover that started production there was the Freelander 2. But Tata did say there would be no compulsory layoffs…

The Discovery was called the LR3 in the US for some marketing reason or another, but isn’t it stretching it too far to call the facelift a LR4? Land Rover doesn’t seem to think so, so here’s the Land Rover LR4, which is what the rest will know as the Discovery 3 facelift, unless they decide to call it the Discovery 4 too?

There is a new 5.0 liter LR-V8 that comes with this new model, that replaces the 4.4 liter outgoing engine. It has direct injection too (rated at 150 bar with twin high pressure fuel pumps), and puts out 375 horsepower and 508Nm of torque while keeping to US ULEV2 standards. The V8 also idles at a lower speed – 600rpm instead of 700rpm.

Other changes are mostly equipment level and aesthetics. Look after the jump for a full hi-res gallery.

Click here to read the rest of Land Rover LR4: the facelifted Discovery 3

Last year, Land Rover attended the Detroit Auto Show and unveiled the LRX Concept which is a lightweight 2-door compact SUV with a 2.0 liter turbodiesel hybrid powertrain that has the potential to produce only 120 grams of emissions per kilometer, while delivering 100 kilometers of driving range with just 4.7 liters of fuel. On that note, the U.K Government has decided to extend a grant offer of up to GBP 27 million to the auto maker to produce an all new new vehicle based on the LRX Concept.

Land Rover later revealed that it is considering to take on the project, and that it would require about GBP 400 million in total cost. If the LRX Concept goes into production, it would be the smallest, lightest and most efficient vehicle to be produced by the TATA-owned auto maker. The LRX Concept was named “Concept Truck of the Year” at the auto show, meaning it got good reviews from the people.

The LRX Concept also features an Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) that allows the it to run on electric drive alone at lower speeds of up to 32 km/h, with the turbodiesel engine able to start automatically and smoothly on demand while on the move. The powerplant can also be fueled with biodiesel. Click here to view more images of the LRX Concept.

I just caught the latest installment in the James Bond universe – the Quantum of Solace over the weekend. I’m abit disappointed that the sexy Aston Martin DBS did not get much screentime other than an initial heated car chase scene.

Instead, Bond goes on to drive a few SUVs from the Ford group of marques, though the makers did try to “balance” them out with a fuel efficient small car.

Let’s have a look at the cars of the Quantum Solace.

Click here to read the rest of Cars used in the Bond movie Quantum of Solace

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.

Click here to read the rest of Kahn Cosworth Sport 300: first batch of 80 cars for Saudi Arabian royal family!

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 liter 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 liter 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 liter turbodiesel V6 version priced from RM522,000 and a 4.4 liter normally aspirated V8 version from RM565,000. The flagship Range Rover is available with a 272hp 3.6 liter 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.

Land 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.

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 liter 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.

Click here to read the rest of Land Rover Defender 6X4 Puma Concept

The 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.

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 liter turbodiesel hybrid powertrain.

Land Rover claims the diesel hybrid can achieve a fuel economy of 4.7 liters 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

Click here to read the rest of Land Rover Black and Silver LRX Hybrid Concept