Land Rover’s new global campaign for Freelander 2 captures a spirit of adventure by showing a Freelander driver and a hot air balloonist both taking different routes on the same journey.

The Lowdown

Shot in Vancouver, the ad opens in an urban landscape late at night. Spectacular aerial shots shows a hot air balloon rises through the high-rise buildings, into the clouds and journeys through the city before reaching mountains and lakes. (more…)

The year starts with a new Range Rover for sale, the TDV8. The new model features, among other things, four-zone aircon, climate control windscreen and automatic rain and headlight sensing.
What’s more, extra leather upholstery, more stowage space and wood trim have been added to the new model, along with improvements to the graphics on the touch screen and instruments.

To suit more tastes, a new interior color (Storm) and two exteriors colors (Alaska White and Lucerne Green) are available.

Last year brought a 20% bigger sale than 2006. John Edwards, Managing Director of Land Rover UK, thinks it is due to introduction of TDV8 diesel engine. The new model, apart from the mentioned changes and improvements, will also feature fuel economy.
“Most Range Rover customers who would previously have bought a V8 petrol now choose a TDV8 instead, which offers petrol-like refinement but with 32% better fuel economy.” Edwards adds.
A carbon offsetting programme of 45,000 miles is included in on-the road price.

Prices of the new models vary from £55,100 for TDV8 HSE to £74,900 for V8 Vogue Supercharged SE.

Land Rover celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. This occasion is a great opportunity for the company to launch a new model of Defender, the SVX.

The vehicle will be available in two versions, a 90 soft-top and a 90 station wagon. Metallic black paintwork and black graphic decals will feature on the new models. Other features include a silver finish, five-spoke alloy wheels, reinforced front undershield and clear rear LED lights.

When it comes to the interior, the new model will incorporate custom-designed seats, a new audio system and a Garmin satellite navigation system.

The soft-top model will be available with a silver tubular cage supporting a tailor-made black fabric hood.
“The Defender SVX looks very different to a spartan 1948 Land Rover, but it´s still an essentially practical vehicle that will enable you to go almost anywhere,” says Land Rover’s managing director, Phil Popham.

The new model will be available in the Summer. The edition is limited to 200 in the UK and includes 140 two-seat 90 soft-tops and 60 four-seat 90 station wagons.

January 2008’s Detroit NAIAS Show saw the unveiling of Land Rover’s latest concept car, focusing on the traditional hardy nature of the brand and incorporating a high level of efficiency and eco-friendly systems.

The concept is compact, smaller than the Freelander 2 but still described as a luxury car. The smaller size may be one of its most appealing features, and the reduced area at the front of the car helps to reduce its drag - leading to gains in fuel efficiency.

Phil Popham, MD of Land Rover, commented, “The LRX concept delivers the powerful message that we are as serious about sustainability as we are confident about the continuing relevance and desirability of our vehicles.”

The latest technology adorns the dashboard, with a touch-screen and 3D display that can be customised to different drivers. It has been reported that despite the smaller size, the intelligent interior designs means the vehicle feels roomy inside, and features include an iPod and iPhone dock, bottle chiller that attaches to the tailgate, and a coolbox.

As with most concepts, we are unlikely to see all of these extravagant additions any time soon, however many of these features will make their way into the Land Rover range - and it offers an interesting reflection of their future design goals.

Land Rover has officially launched its new look Land Rover Freelander at the British Motor Show in London this week. The new model featured alongside an updated, 2007 model year Range Rover TDV8, a Range Rover Sport TDV6 and a Discovery 3 TDV6 on the show stand.

New from the ground up, the new model, which has been styled to fit in with the Range Rover and recently re-designed Land Rover Discovery will come with 2 engine choices - a 2.2-litre TD4 diesel (160 PS / 118 kW) and a 3.2-litre i6 petrol (233 PS / 171 kW) models.

Style-wise and the new Freelander has taken the air vent grills from the Range Rover, as well as losing the wheel on the back of the car but still grown in length by 2 inches over the older model and this, Land Rover says, has meant it has increased the boot space by around 38%.

Land Rover’s managing director, Phil Popham, said: “The Freelander 2 sets new standards in the sector, combining the advantages of a premium car with the attributes of a robust 4×4. We believe that no other compact 4×4 gets closer to blending these best-of-both-worlds abilities”.

The Range Rover for 2007 goes on sale from September this year, with the Freelander 2 following it into Land Rover showrooms from December in the UK with a US launch early next year. Prices for the Freelander 2 will start at approximately £22,000 and rise to over £30,000.

(this article was taken from pocket-lint.co.uk)