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 Detroit,
Mich., USA, 5 January 2004 - Land Rover makes history today at the North
American International Auto Show in Detroit, by unveiling its first ever
concept show car, the Range Stormer.
The
Range Stormer is a high performance, sports tourer SUV concept car,
which showcases a future design direction for Land Rover.
It also previews a new production model, one that will enter a
fresh market segment for the company and will be an additional model
line in the Land Rover portfolio.
Commenting
on the new concept, Land Rover's managing director Matthew Taylor, said:
"The supercharged V8 Range Stormer gives a taste of our forthcoming
new entrant in the booming high performance SUV segment.
The production vehicle that follows will share many of its
styling and technical innovations.
It is very much conceived to be an on-road, high performance
machine, as well as class-leading off-road like all Land Rovers."
Geoff
Upex, design director at Land Rover, added: "The challenge was to
translate fundamental Land Rover design values into a concept for a high
performance machine that looks powerful, muscular and edgy.
We certainly want to challenge established views of our vehicles,
but the Range Stormer is very clearly an authentic Land Rover."
Future
technologies previewed with the concept include an all-new platform that
will be the basis for future full-size Land Rover models.
This advanced, integrated platform, unique to Land Rover, will
provide the underpinnings for the production vehicle inspired by the
Range Stormer.
Another
major innovation showcased is Terrain Response.
This smart and simple-to-use new Land Rover technology delivers
the best possible on- and off-road composure and control by optimising
the entire vehicle set-up.
The
driver simply selects the appropriate Terrain Response setting from the
six available and the suspension, powertrain, throttle response and
traction control come together to do the rest, based on a choice ranging
from 'dynamic' for high speed work to 'deep ruts' for extreme off-roading.
Matthew
Taylor concluded: "You'll be seeing an increasing amount of
innovative technology in our future vehicles.
But technology that makes the driver's task simpler not more
complicated, such as Terrain Response.
You select the terrain. The car then helps you conquer it."
The
Range Stormer was completed with the support of suppliers Alcoa
(22" forged alloy wheels), Hella (interior and exterior lights) and
Goodyear (custom made tyres).
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Land
Rover has plans to build a baby 4x4 to slot in below the Freelander. It
promises to be a funky lifestyle vehicle and is based on a recent design
study from Land Rover, called the Land Raver.