The front gate of every posh school in the Uk will be wall-to-wall with these this time next year. At least they're not that massive and don't chuck out poisons by the bucket-load like the big ones do, so the rest of us wont suffer too much.
Give a stylist some drugs, an established brand to dilute, throw in some accountants producing it to a price (bye bye 4WD, hello ?transverse FWD - WTF????) and this is what happens. More consumerist rubbish on the outer edges of acceptabilty or credibilty. A great superficial adornment for the driveway, just as the bigger conservatory is ceasing to have topical relevance to the neighbours.
it still looks tough and solid like a LR should, but it has more direction and a bit more ABC warrior in there now top bit of styling.
Their market atm is several notches higher for the full Rangey, or the Disco, both capable off road. They appear to have given their old SUV Freelander a sharp haircut, some trainers, and aped a Range Rover with it. Cue one lame vehicle which is neither one, or the other.
no cue a fookin awesome interpretation of the LR brand for a younger more dynamic poorer customer in the segment previously occupied by the freeloader. For those who don't yet have to pull jemima's horse box out of a muddy field
I bet it sells like hotcakes though which at the end of the day is why they are making cars, too make money. Its a bit like this new Mini countryman thing, totally pointless but people will still buy them.
think of some words that describe the land rover brand, and this one still communicates them, but in a more modern way. They are very good at what they do
The new Freelander will also come with a FWD option, as do most of the "4x4's" in this market sector. I don't have a problem with that (mostly because I'd never buy one). Most of these SUV are 2wd 99% of the time to save fuel, the next logical step it to remove the extra oily bits all together. I fancy within 5 years even the 'full' Range Rover will come in 2WD, 2WD with an option to power the other wheels with an electric/hybrid drive-train and full 4WD. With rocketing fuel prices and stricter and stricter emissions legilslation coming the luxury of having a heavy inifecient 4x4 system you never use will be too much, even for the type of person who drops 70k on a rangie.
going FWD with optional electric RWD and some clever sync technology would be easy to do, and allow it to potentially do a prius impression around town they have to do this due to the poor image of gas guzzling 4x4s. what's odd is that big v8 uberbarges seem to get off without the same level of hatred
Mostly because the really vocal tree hunger type couldn't tell the difference between a C200Cdi and a C63 AMG with a microscope and an open bonnet. SUV are an easy target. I'm no fan of SUV's to be fair. I live in a posh little village. The local school is a council one but every middle-class twerp from miles around seems to want to get their kids in there so I'm fighting past lazily park and poorly driven SUV's every morning. Course the famer I know (I ride my MTB though his yard so often say hi to keep him sweet) seems to manage his rutty/torn up road in an a 406 estate.
FYI thats not a LR, its an RR. it will sell like hot cakes to those who want a bit of posh and becks in their lives but can only afford monthly repayments for a 40k car
