This November, Land Rover will begin the sale of an updated Range Rover Sport that will come equipped with either a 2.7-liter, turbo-diesel V6, or a new TDV8 that produces 40-percent more power and torque than its six-cylinder brethren. Only you can’t have either, because they’ll only be available in Europe.
The investment group at which Jacques Nasser is senior partner for mergers and acquisitions is in talks with the former Ford CEO’s ex-employer to purchase Jaguar and Land Rover, according to four people said to be familiar with the situation by Bloomberg.
Last night at a WTA party in London, Maria Sharapova, tennis star and Land Rover spokesperson, gave attendees the first look at the completely redesigned Land Rover Freelander 2 (LR2 in the US). Sharapova drives a Range Rover when she’s at home in the States.
The new Freelander is a significant departure from the model it’s replacing. While the original Freelander sold well in Europe, it didn’t perform nearly as well in the US. That should change, however, with the introduction of the Freelander 2/LR2.
That stalwart icon of Land Rover all-terrain capability, the Defender, will be with us at least until 2010. What Car? reports that the legendary 4×4 is slated to receive major updates starting next spring that could carry the boxy off-roader well into the next decade.
Land Rover has announced that the 2007 edition of the Range Rover will replace last year’s 3-liter BMW-sourced diesel with a new V8 turbodiesel.
The debut of Land Rover’s replacement for the aging Freelander to be dubbed the LR2 appeared in Detroit. We figured it would pop up eventually at the British Motor Show in July, Paris Motor Show at the end of September or the newly rescheduled L.A. even later. But it seems the upscale mini-ute is ready for its close up as these leaked brochure pages suggest. We can’t glean any details from the images as the resolution is a bit too low for the text to be read. LR3-inspired styling, a more upmarket interior and a pair of moonroofs looks like a good place for the new LR2 to pick up where its underachieving predecessor left off.
Last weekend during a practice lap at Mid-Ohio Raceway the 009 Aston Martin ALMS went airborne off the track and ‘flew’ 142 feet before landing off the track in the dirt. The track was reportedly wet and the unidentified driver lost control under braking. Fortunately his car was the only one on that part of the track at the time and it amazingly remained level during its separation with terra firma.
South African superstar adventure athlete, Martin Dreyer, today won the 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge. Beating off 17 of the world’s toughest adventure racers in the 4×4-based global Challenge, Dreyer took home a brand new Range Rover after a nail-biting climax to the 28 day marathon that spanned across four countries on two continents.
