As I do from time to time, here are some links & pictures I’ve collected over the past month or so and just didn’t have a place for them:
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For UK readers, you can pre-order an Evoque here: https://forms.landrover.com/preorder.aspx?marketid=4&langid=2&sreferrer=LLR1710IN_YR&campaignid=LLR1710IN_YR
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For some really crazy Land Rover / Jaguar minutia, check out this site:
There are all sorts of public documents showing how they transport the Land Rovers & Jaguars around the world. The documents have pictures & instructions and things you just may never have known – nor do you really need to know, but it makes great reading for the fanatic.
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UPDATE: Unfortunate update to the Overfinch story: Range Rover specialist Overfinch in administration
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New Land Rover fan forums site: http://www.mylandroverhasasoul.com
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Mansory showed off it’s latest Range Rover Sport design with a scooped hood & carbon fiber – there are some interesting interior cues that Land Rover could get ideas from:
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And finally, here are some real shots of the Jet leather headliner, a no cost option for the Range Rover Autobiography.
Ahead of the actual reveal in LA on November 17th,
Land RoverRange Rover has released pictures & a press release for the 5(4)-door Range Rover Evoque.The PR we have is US biased with no talk of a diesel or 2WD model and with US prices stated to be starting at $45,000. I still wonder, have they officially said that we aren’t getting the coupe?
And finally, interesting paragraph from that PR:
The more capacious interior of the five-door Range Rover Evoque has been achieved without enlarging the compact footprint of the coupe model: the overall length and width remain identical.
And I appear to still be the unofficial proof-reader for Land Rover here in the US. Just below you can see a screen shot from the interactivelandrover.com site with the Press Release for this new model, and again, a pretty clear mistake on the third line. I’m trying to make this criticism constructive, but I just thing they should have at least one real person read everything before they post it. And again, I’m sure the mistake will be quietly fixed by morning but as usual, no one there will acknowledge my help. I’m usually quieter about alerting them to all the mistakes but now I think I’m just going to post them here. At least this time it wasn’t a spelling error…
And back to the real stuff…
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
rfive-door format - Permanent all-wheel drive combined with turbocharged four-cylinder engine and an updated six-speed auto transmission deliver excellent performance and fuel economy
- 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 Land Rover Terrain Response
- Innovative Range Rover technologies, including 8-inch (203mm) touch-screen display and Surround Camera System
- Sold in 160 countries worldwide, with North American deliveries from Fall 2011
- Indicative pricing starting from around $45,000
When Range Rovers first became officially available in the US back in 1987, the name of the car company here was, Range Rover of North America – prior to that, you could get Range Rovers, but I believe they were all grey market. Here’s an ad from 1984, showing they were available.
Anyway, back to the focus of the post, just more notes on the separation that’s happening between Land Rover & Range Rover as brands. From the slow removal of Land Rover badges from the Range Rovers to the branding they’re using on the web. The actual Land Rover website has two distinct looks and logos depending on what models you’re looking at:
The thing to notice there is that “Range Rover” logo in the upper left of the page. It’s those separate Land Rover / Range Rover logos that are showing up more often. Here’s the cover & last page from the iPad version of the OneLife magazine.
I didn’t notice all this extra Range Rover specific branding until the Evoque launch, I probably just wasn’t paying close enough attention prior, but now I can’t miss it. Especially when those first Evoque pictures were missing any type of Land Rover branding – a Land Rover badge did appear on the Paris show car.
And finally, back to that OneLife magazine/app, they seem to be very careful in talking about Land Rovers and Range Rovers as independent items which seems like a lot of PR editing.
Directly from the Ratan Tata article:
Tata wants to broaden the Land Rover and Range Rover model range and further differentiate the two brands to attract more customers to the business.
I just wonder what that means exactly? Is this going to be a Toyota/Lexus arrangement? We currently only have two Land Rover models in the US. If this grows with something like the still secret L486 project, where do the Land Rover models fit in? Why not lose them and go all Range Rover? Are they going to be a lot cheaper? There will be a Range Rover at the $40,000 level with the Evoque and I know it’s not the LR4 segment, but what’s going to be the differentiator? Is it just to help people with the confusion between LR & RR that happens at times?
Can someone explain?
So the Evoque has been described as having the “Range Rover brand’s 8-inch(203mm) high-definition touchscreen display”, which I guess is new for the “brand’ because the current models I believe all have 7” screens. Anyway, I noticed that the new XJ touchscreen had a similar look to the quick shots we’ve seen of the Evoque, not identical but similar design language – the XJ has the 8” screen too.
So while doing a little searching around, I found that Jaguar actually has a Flash-based and what appears to be Windows only; emulator for their touch screen & HVAC controls.
http://www.jaguar.com/us/en/#/owner_support/touchscreen_simulator
So again, I realize it’s not identical to the Evoque’s but if the little things like this interest you like they do me, you may want to check it out:
One thing I did notice on the XJ that the Land Rover designers didn’t do, was try to eliminate as many buttons as possible. Which while a nice thing to do to clear up the clutter and confusion, some odd choices/compromises were made. Like the climatic seats, there seems to be a lot of tapping on the screen to set what you want – I realize going this way does add more options with less buttons, but on the other side, these changes now can’t be done without looking. Without a physical switch/button/knob, how much muscle memory gets trained? A hard button gets you to the screen but then it’s just a lot of tapping.
And then there’s the physical audio controls, instead of putting that musical note button next to Mode, why not put a Pause button? You could move the left transport control to the left once more and then add Pause button right in the middle. Of all hard buttons they replaced with this design, why do you need a hard button to set the Base & Treble – is it really used that often?
Then you’ve got those “Shortcuts” which seem to be for the most part not things that you may be changing all that often – Language? Animation preferences?
Sorry XJ, you’re an awesome car, it just seems the UI designers may need a bit more time for polish. Maybe the Evoque’s system is v2 for the new 8” JLR screens?
Either way, go check this out.
As a real customization option for the Range Rover, the Autobiography program has been something they’ve had in the UK for many years, going back at least a generation.
If you don’t already know, here’s the description of the UK Autobiography program:
An Autobiography is one of those rare opportunities in life to say precisely what you want to say. With Range Rover Autobiography, you have the freedom to express you own distinct taste through wide choices of optional colors and materials creating a vehicle that is an individual as its owner. The Autobiography program is available when you specify The Range Rover Supercharged, the naturally aspirated V8, or diesel as your vehicle order and can be tailored to your individual specification. Take as many liberties as you like. Paintwork, seats, rugs, leathers, wood finishes, facia, steering wheel or perhaps an embroidered headrest. With Autobiography, there are no rules
So all this means is you really get to go crazy with customizing and tailor a Range Rover to your own unique ideas. None of this is cheap and as far as I’ve been able to find there’s no real public price list for the UK program. In the UK, it doesn’t take a completely custom design to get that Autobiography badge, key chain & sill plates – you just need to get an Autobiography paint finish, interior color change, wood package or bespoke commission.
In the U.S., we’ve had special editions through the years that get certain Autobiography options with no real customization – the 2008 Westminster being one of them, along with the various anniversary editions. It’s on these special editions we’ve been seeing more of the exterior trim painted body color, something they offer in the UK, but not here. They usually get that two toned leather interior too, and they use one of the special wood trim options.
Starting in 2009, Autobiography became available in the US, really more of an option package. For 2011, it’s a $21,485 package that you can only add to the Range Rover Supercharged. It adds every option to the Supercharged model, gives you a full leather interior with more color choices(including the two tone options, but nothing like the UK), upgraded rear seats, special wheels and a few more items. You can go with one of the special paint choices which cost between $9,500 & $14,500. And you have three special wood trim choices, which go for $2,300. There are packages for the Sport now too, but I’m talking about Range Rovers here.
So we are getting closer to the actual Autobiography program here in the US but still nothing like the levels of customization they offer in the UK. In the pictures below, you can see pictures from the 2005 UK Autobiography guide, a hard cover book that really shows you what’s possible.
My main question is, why can’t we get this here? Are we too large of a market? Would it be too overwhelming for the Land Rover Special Vehicles people? Or do we just not care about customizing like this in the US and the marketing people have decided it’s not worth it? And how much extra work goes into a US Autobiography vs. a UK model? Does the US model get any special finishing by the Autobiography division?
I’m not looking for any of these crazy color combos, but it would be nice to have more options.
It is a great time for US Range Rover buyers, there are more options & features then ever before; hopefully it will open the door for a real Autobiography program here.
Great 2 part video – HUE166 is featured and even some center steer shots, I’ve never seen before. The first part focuses on the first 10 years of Land Rover, the second part shows us the NEW for 1958 Series 2.
Part 1:
Part 2:
