Land Rover to launch new variants of Discovery 4, Range Rover

Tatas' owned Land Rover today said it will introduce two new variants of sports utility vehicles Discovery 4 and Range Rover Sport in October this year in the UK, the on-road prices of which will start from 37,995 pounds (about Rs 27 lakh).

Both the '2012 Model Year Discovery 4' and '2012 Model Year Range Rover Sport' will come with 8-speed automatic transmissions and will be powered by 3.0-litre diesel engines, Land Rover said in two separate statements.

While the Discovery 4 will be available from 37,995 pounds onward, the Range Rover Sport's price will start from 48,795 pounds, it said.

"Improved performance, lower CO2 emissions and enhanced design and equipment levels consolidate the Discovery 4's position as the most capable and versatile all-purpose vehicle on and off the road today. The Discovery 4 is quite simply in a class of its own," Land Rover UK managing director Colin Green said.

With the new engine, both the upcoming variants will emit 230 grams of CO2 per km, compared to 244 grams every km in previous models.

Green said the new features of the 2012 Range Rover Sport will ensure that this car retains its position as one of the most economical high performance SUVs in the market today.

Earlier this week, British marque Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said it has started production of its SUV Range Rover Evoque at Land Rover's Halewood facility in the UK.

The company said it has already received over 18,000 advance bookings for the vehicle across the world.

The company had doubled its workforce to more than 3,000 employees in order to deliver the Evoque, of which 75% of the production will be exported to over 170 countries that will add about 2 billion pounds to the UK economy.

The launch of the Range Rover Evoque is just one of the 40 new product actions that JLR will carry out in the next five years. This product creation programme is supported by an annual investment of 1.5 billion pounds in developing new models, engines, technologies and vehicle lines.

Currently, the company directly employs about 19,000 people in the UK and indirectly supports up to 1.40 lakh jobs through its supply chain, dealer network and associated business operations.