2013 Land Rover Range Rover launched globally

The all-new Range Rover creates headlines with its weight loss, planning to scale Indian terrain by early 2013.

The 2013 Land Rover Range Rover witnessed its international launch in London on September 6, 2012 and has made everyone drop their jaws in awe with its phenomenal weight loss! The new Range Rover is more than 300 kilos lighter than the outgoing model – thanks to the all-aluminium chassis. Land Rover also points out that the chassis and body-frame, despite being lighter, are significantly stiffer than their predecessor. Since the structure is bonded and riveted, it uses a lot less energy in the assembly process as well and there is no need of noisy welding stations either. The new Land Rover Range Rover is also a bigger SUV overall than the model it replaces. 

Though the wheelbase of the new Range Rover is longer, the new air suspension and the evolved Terrain-Response system make sure that the SUV’s off-roading capabilities aren’t compromised in the bargain. The new suspension system has longer travel with almost 5 inches worth of additional ground clearance, while the ride height can be increased all the way up to 11.9 inches. But since Land Rover also knows that the Range Rover will spend most of its life ON the road than OFF it, the SUV gets a new two-channel active lean control system on select model to reduce the body roll around corners.

Under the hood, the new Range Rover gets three engine options – a 5.0-litre 510 PS Supercharged V8 petrol, a 3.0-litre 258 PS V6 diesel and a 4.4-litre 339 PS V8 diesel. All these engines are mated to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. The talk of the town though is the new diesel-hybrid powertrain which mates a 1.7 kWh battery pack to the 3.0-litre V6 diesel motor. The hybrid manages to return a fuel efficiency of close to 10 kmpl which is quite tall for an SUV like a Range Rover. The hybrid manages to sprint from a naught to 100 km/h in less than seven seconds even with the added weight of the lithium-ion battery pack. The battery pack itself is protected by a boron steel cradle which remains safe even if you take the Range Rover out for hardcore off-roading activities. 

On the design front, the new Range Rover takes heavy inspiration from the Evoque. The headlights and taillights are boxier and the design reminds many of the US-spec Ford Explorer. The leading edge of the front doors gets three slats which are reminiscent of what used to be the vertical fender mounted vents of the outgoing model. The new Range Rover also features the biggest panoramic roof ever seen on any production spec SUV. 

On the inside, the new vehicle has a cleaner design with a less cluttered switchgear layout. Being a luxury SUV, there is the usual dose of leather and wood, but what gives the interiors some more oomph is the 29 speaker Meridan audio system – you heard that right – twenty nine!

The new Range Rover is expected to come to India by early 2013, given the popularity of the flagship Land Rover in India. Prices are expected to be slightly dearer than the current model, which starts at a little less than Rs 1 crore.

                                                                                                                                                via oncars