Geneva Motor Show - Land Rover

Created Date: 24/03/2011

Not to be outdone this year, the king of the SUV’s came to the show with no less than three offerings. Two of them were style enhancements to existing models and the last was an Eco friendly experimental model. Possibly the most appealing was the Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate Edition, which may as well be called the Range Rover ‘mobile office’. Quite possibly the definitive luxury Range Rover, in terms of ‘techy’ offerings and materials, has a pair of Apple iPads installed into the rear entertainment system as standard along with a keyboard for typing. There’s also a drinks cooler in the rear armrest, as well as an aluminium laptop table should you not want to use either of the two iPads already in there. The rear bench has been replaced by a centre console for the rear entertainment system and this is all finished off in none other than machined aluminium inserts and Kalahari wood veneers. They’ve even gone luxury on the boot space, lining it with teak decking for that ultimate premium feel. Engines for the Autobiography Ultimate start at a 4.4-liter V8 diesel engine that is capable of producing 309 horsepower and 516 lb/ft of torque. This is capable of producing a 0-60 time 7.5 seconds and top speed of 130mph. However there is a much more powerful alternative offering which produces a mind blowing 503 horsepower and 461 lb/ft of torque. Expect this one to get you from 0-60 in 5.9 seconds and onto 140mph, which for a car of this size is staggering.

The second style enhancement was to the Range Rover Evoque, which has undergone a colour facelift and had a few new versions added to the lineup. Range Rover has added a few new colours to the Evoque range, which were previously only available in a very basic select few. Of the colours on offer many seemed to like the lime green variant, which had a contrasting black roof. Colour choices will span beyond just picking the colour however, as there are many style options available in terms of which areas are painted in what colour. As said above the roof can be painted in a contrasting colour, but so can the spoilers and interior. This all adds up to a seriously impressive array of combinations available. They also introduced two new variants, a three and five door model, both available in either the Pure, Prestige or Dynamic packs and having similar specs to current Evoque.

Their last revealing was a step into the eco category with the Land Rover Range E – a diesel electric hybrid car. This has been spotted a few times already, but at the Geneva Motor-show people got the first chance to see it working. Still only a prototype, it works by pairing Land Rover’s existing TDV6 diesel engine and upcoming ZF eight-speed automatic transmission with a plug-in parallel hybrid drive module. This gives the Range E boasts a very tree hugging CO2 rating of only 89g/km, a fraction of your typical SUV. It also has a full electric mode with zero emissions for speeds up to 70mph and if used in hybrid mode will be good for 690 miles between charges. Impressive figures all round if you want the prowess of a Land Rover without the nasty output.

See the Land Rover range online: click here

Article written by Thomas Wellburn...

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