The combined Land Rover/Jaguar company, now owned by Indian automaker Tata, had a little fun for the holidays, coming up with concept images for Santa's sleigh, one designed by Jaguar, and the other by Land Rover.
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Jaguar)
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Land Rover)
Land Rover went futuristic with its land-based speeder design. Being a Land Rover, we assume it handles rough terrain well. It also looks like the cockpit is designed for a reindeer driver, which must require some very special controls.
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Corinne Schulze/CNET)
You don't have to be a member of the aristocracy to get a Land Rover. The LR2's base price is in the mid-30s. For that, you get a small luxury SUV, featuring an impressively good ride and some off-road capability. Cabin tech boosts the price over 40k, and it's not very good. The navigation system is basic and audio sources are limited, but the Alpine stereo produces excellent sound.
At the 2009 New York auto show, Land Rover rolled out updates to its top-of-the-line vehicles, showing a new direction for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, and renaming the LR3 as the LR4. All vehicles share a new 5-liter V-8 engine, with a supercharged version available in the Range Rovers, and new cabin tech, which integrates the navigation and audio control. iPod integration is finally available, at long last, and Land Rover will make HD radio available.
Our first look at Land Rover's new design, from the 2008 Detroit auto show.
There's a silver lining in the war on terror. The need for beefy, bulletproof buggies to patrol the Afghan and Iraqi outback has translated into factory jobs on the home front for at least one NATO ally.
Described as "a Land Rover on steroids," the new MWMIK (Mobility Weapon Mounted Installation Kit) 4x4 looks more like an armored forklift chassis. But with a top speed of 80 mph and wide range of armaments, it won't be pulling pallet duty anytime soon.
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U.K. Ministry of Defence)
The U.K. Ministry of Defence has ordered 130 of the new vehicles from Plymouth-based Devonport Management Limited (DML) to the tune of 30 million quid. Traditionally a shipbuilding outfit, DML has "been forced to expand its skills base and diversify into new markets such as the super yacht sector because of the dwindling need for surface ship work," according to The Herald newspaper of Plymouth. The new line is expected to generate 120 jobs.
Designed by Supacat, it will have a chassis by Universal Engineering, a Cummins engine and an Allison transmission; assembly will be at DML's Devonport dockyard. The vehicle, which carries a team of four, a .50-caliber machine gun or a grenade launcher, will augment--and possibly replace, eventually--the Brits' current fire support model WMIK, which resembles something that saw duty in the Falklands. (See clip below.)
DML has its eye on the prize. "Once people understand that this is what we can do and what we are capable of, it should lead to a lot of interest and hopefully more contracts for us," CEO Dennis Gilbert was quoted as saying. "We are in a really good position to take off in terms of expanding our involvement in the market sector."
The vehicles were obtained under "urgent operational requirement," which means British troops should be sporting them sometime in 2008, according to Lord Drayson, minister of state for defense equipment and support.
All you Hemingway wannabes out there no longer have to freeze in the winter in your old drafty Defender. New, improved versions, resembling Papa's old British jeep, are finally on the way.
Soft-top 90s version of the Defender
(Credit: Land Rover)Rumors of a Land Rover Defender returning to the North American market are true. The car will be back in 2007 as a 2008 model. Soft-top, long-wheelbase and short-wheelbase versions are also "in the works," according to Atlantic British, which would probably know as the leading U.S. supplier of after-market parts for Land Rovers in the United States.
Land Rover wants to recreate the car as a "21st century icon," according to a company executive quoted by Atlantic British--with a few minor improvements of course.
The modifications for the 2008 Land Rover Defender will include the addition of the appropriate air bags, one of the reasons the Defender left the U.S. in the first place.
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