Since my first L322 model back in 2002, condensation in the various lights has been somewhat of an issue.  It has gotten better in the later years and here’s some info from TSB LTB00127/2008.  It focuses on 2008-2009 models but still gives you a good idea on what they consider too much/too little condensation and whether they will allow or deny a warranty replacement.

Headlight Summary:

Natural condensation under certain atmospheric conditions – normally a thin misting – within the headlamps.

• Incorrect replacement of bulb-covers following bulb replacement, or blockage of breather tubes, can lead to condensation forming. Ensure bulb-covers are correctly installed, and ensure that the breather tubes are not blocked and are free from dirt or debris. Clear the blockage or replace the breather tube if necessary. If this is determined to be the cause of the condensation, measures should be taken to dry out the lamps. Condensation levels should be monitored to allow natural dissipation of the condensation.

Cause: This is caused by air humidity condensing on the inner surfaces of the lamp lens, generally in colder weather. This will usually clear and exit through the breather tubes as the lamp heats up during a 30 minute period of normal dipped-beam operation. Suggested Customer Concern Code – L29.

Action: Always refer to the attached illustrations for guidance on acceptable misting conditions before proceeding with any repair. Should a customer express concern that after 30 minutes of normal dipped-beam operation, considerable water droplets remain on the inside of the headlamp glass, or there is evidence of standing water within the headlamp unit, the lamp should be replaced with a new unit. this bulletin has been issued to assist Authorized Repairers in providing a detailed explanation relating to Land Rover’s standards relating to this subject

Unacceptable Taillight Condensation:

Normal condensation is a natural process. Range Rover tail lamps are vented to alleviate changes in pressure through a breather vent. Atmospheric air contains water vapor referred to as humidity. When this air enters the tail lamp under any circumstance, there is a possibility that condensation can occur if the temperature is cold enough. When normal condensation occurs, a thin film of mist can form on the inside surface of the plastic lens. The thin mist will clear and exit through the vents during normal lamp operation.

During a period of normal tail and fog lamp operation (approximately thirty minutes) the condensation should dissipate as the lamp heats up.

However, if considerable water droplets still remain on the inside of the lamp lens after the 30 minutes of operation (Refer to the attached illustrations), the lamp should be renewed. If there is evidence of standing water within the lamp unit, the unit will also need to be renewed.

All illustrations below show unacceptable levels of water droplets

Land Rover has various designations for their different models, not sure if they’re technically code names or just alternate ways to reference the vehicles.

Here are a few of the current models:

L316 – Defender

L319 – LR3 & LR4 – Discovery 3/4

L320 – Range Rover Sport

L322 – Range Rover – Current model(2002 – today), below is a picture used in some technical documents, I don’t have a picture like this for the other models.

L359 – LR2 – Freelander 2

L538 – Range Rover Evoque

L405 – Possible code for the next Range Rover

And back to the point of the post, the L486, it’s been referenced in the press since 2008 or so and has been described by them as a 7-seater Freelander, possibly to be called the Ventura.  I take anything from the press with a grain of salt, but since 2008, it hasn’t really been brought up again. 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/06/24/land-rover-developing-new-7-seater/

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20080624/free/957481398

I wrote about it back in April after finding some of the designers who worked on the project.

And just thought with the LA Auto show going on and Land Rover PR running at full steam, anyone who has a chance should start asking the LR PR people for comments for reactions.  Or if you have any info, send it over.

Quick reference back to my article from April, here’s the info, a small reference to the L486 along with the L538, which would become the Range Rover Evoque:

http://www.people4business.com/seller-269321.htm

This person has done a lot of work for Aston Martin & Bentley – they list the specific items.  The latest project is listed below:

WARWICKSHIRE (Oct 2007 & ongoing)

CAD ENGINEER – EXTERIOR TRIM – CATIA V5
LANDROVER L538 / L486
Initial design and feasibility studies for the following components: door claddings, rear spoiler, rear finisher, front and rear bumper cover, fender vents. Parametric modeling in Catia V5 to create fully modifiable master CAD models. Use of TCE to save and access data and create product structures. Liaison with styling, CAE and suppliers to mature designs.

Could the L486 be the 5-door Evoque?

And if you have some more current generation code names, please let me know.

One final item, you can see the alternate names in use all over the Land Rover website, below is a header graphic for the Range Rover Sport section, you can see the L320 in its filename:

LRNA_RRS_COMPARE_L320_10_EXT_LOC06-900×200.jpg

With the 5-door officially announced at the LA Auto show, the real countdown can start as to when we’ll see them on the road.  Click below to see the current gallery of 53 images of the 5-door and you can find the official press release at the bottom of this post.

EMBARGO: 00:01 (GMT) on 10 November 2010

INTRODUCING THE ALL-NEW FIVE-DOOR RANGE ROVER EVOQUE – COUPE STYLE WITH ENHANCED VERSATILITY

· Addition of exciting five-door bodystyle to Range Rover Evoque line-up

· Bold exterior captures coupe design, with the same compact footprint and slightly higher roofline for enhanced versatility

· Premium cabin, with the enhanced space and practicality of the five-door format

· Permanent all-wheel drive combined with turbocharged four-cylinder engine and a six-speed auto transmission deliver performance and minimized fuel consumption

· All-new 240bhp* 2.0-liter Si4 turbocharged engine combining six-cylinder refinement and performance with four-cylinder fuel economy

· Dynamic and agile handling across varied terrain, available with Adaptive Dynamics featuring MagneRide™

· All-weather, multi-terrain capability with patented Land Rover Terrain Response®

· Innovative Range Rover technologies, including 8-inch (203mm)

touch-screen display and Surround Camera System

· To be sold in 160 countries worldwide, with North American deliveries from Fall 2011

· Indicative pricing starting from around $45,000

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I know I mentioned this a while back but now that it’s actually open, I thought I’d post it again:

Land Rover Legacy Exhibition

A new exhibition about the history of the Lode Lane Solihull factory will take place at the Solihull Central Library from 9 – 25 November. The exhibition tells the story of the Lode Lane factory, its people and products, from 1940 to the present day and features photographs from the Archives of the British Motor Industry Heritage Trust. Many of these photographs have never before been viewed by the general public.

***

I wish I had the time to get over there before the 25th and see what they’re showing, if you can make it to Solihull, please let me know how it was.

In the same Land Rover history vein – Motorgraphs has some great classic Land Rover & Range Rover photos that you can order in various printed formats.  This isn’t an endorsement, just something I think is really neat!

http://www.motorgraphs.com/

Should be an interesting week for the Range Rover Evoque…

On Wednesday November 17th at 9:55AM PST, you can watch the live reveal of the 5-door Range Rover Evoque at the LA Auto show:

http://www.helloevoque.com/blog/watch-the-live-5-door-reveal/

And later that day from 1:30 PM PST / 4:30 PM EST / 9:30 PM GMT, Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Design Director will be answering questions in a live chat:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=175344855816016&index=1

Do you think they’ll let me ask how closely connected the Stormer & Evoque really are!  As I’ve been told, there’s really no connection, I guess it’s just a lot of coincidences?  Geoff Upex, please contact me!

I’ve wanted to write about the marketing they’re doing for the Evoque for a while now.  They just keep coming up with new things, like a twitpic scavenger hunt for the Evoque wireframes in LA before the big reveal next week.  I just wasn’t sure if I want to be critical of it or not and my mind has changed over time.  So I’ll just break it down a little.

With regard specifically to the Pulse of the City app – at first I didn’t get it but then I tried it out and created this cool visualization of a short trip the other day.  It’s a simple app you install on your iOS device, you hit start at the beginning of your trip and end when you reach your destination.  It uses the live GPS data to plot points along the way, then it emails you a visualization of your trip, as seem below.  I had thought it was just for the “City Shapers” but it’s more then that.

It’s a neat idea with a cool personalized product at the end, you should check it out.

Now on to the City Shapers, this I’m not as cool with.  It’s described as:

40 influential names from ten cities, working in fashion, design, music and film who will collaborate with Range Rover over the next 12 months to launch the highly anticipated Range Rover Evoque.

When I heard this the first time, I didn’t think much of it in the way of paid product endorsement.  But then the news started appearing about how these celebrities are getting paid to tweet about the Evoque to their many followers.  I know it’s not a new thing, and getting paid for things like this is becoming more common, but I just don’t think it’s transparent enough.  Using Twitter to broadcast about a product and not have a clear “Promotional considerations provided by” tag really seems like it would hurt Twitter in the long run?  And it seems like it would be disingenuous to the actual followers to just be getting basically commercial messages without any notification

Here you can see an actual promoted follow suggestion from @RangeRoverUSA:

That is clearly marked that it’s promoted, and I have no problem with that.  But then you have tweets from @bevysmith, one of the New York City Shapers.  It’s not as clear as to whether or not she’s being paid to mention the Evoque.

On researching this, I found some great articles on the subject from people who write a lot better then I can, you should check them out:

Twitter: just another channel for celeb endorsement?

Range Rover use brand and consumer generated content to engage consumers about new models

And there was one tweet that I now can’t find!!  The tweeter worded it very well on how this is a slippery slope between advertising and a true experience – when I find it, I’ll update this article.

And Land Rover Range Rover did clarify the program:

Range Rover this week announced that it has recruited 40 global “city shapers” to drive the new Range Rover Evoque car and be part of the Pulse of the City campaign. These people are all well known voices in their city and come from the fields of art, culture, film, music, fashion, TV in fact anywhere where they’ve made a mark in their own city. They have an interesting and often talked about point of view and appreciate the design thought that has gone in to producing the new Range Rover car.
Further to recent press speculation about celebrities being paid to tweet without acknowledging their association, Range Rover would like to reinforce the fact that at no time have its city shapers been paid just to tweet or endorse our products without acknowledgement.  Each will be loaned a new Evoque and will then recount their experiences as part of the Pulse of the City campaign in their own ways. If Twitter is used, it is through their own choice, what they say is determined by them and will always be linked to Range Rover and the Pulse of the City campaign.  All of our City Shapers have been announced on the Helloevoque.com .

So maybe that’s their out, if they aren’t actually paying them anything and just loaning the car, they don’t have to feel as guilty about it?  The more transparent the better!!

Just going to close on some more criticism , I really think the Evoque turned out well and hope that it’s really successful for Land Rover Range Rover, but do you really think any of these City Shapers wouldn’t just have a real Range Rover?  Like the just announced fifth City Shaper for New York City, New York Jets star cornerback Darrelle Revis, do you really think he’s showing up on game day in a little Evoque or a real Range Rover Autobiography?  And calling back to the @bevysmith tweets above, being in NYC, how many people really do drive themselves?  And how many of these City Shapers would actually drive themselves in NYC?  Why not just use a Taxi or car service – do these Evoque’s come with a driver?  And if you’re going to have a driver, wouldn’t they use a full size vehicle, sort of no compromise?  And I know they’re really marketing it as a city car, but driving in the city is never like the driving in their videos of car-less London.  To me, you drive in the city if you have to, not because you want to.

Just my opinion!

Press releases to follow:

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