One year ago the 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4 (LR4) took the top spot in the 1,900kg (4,188 lbs.) category of the 2011 Towcar Awards. Flash forward to June of 2012 and you'll experience a mild case of déjà vu. The Discovery 4 recently won the 1,900kg class for the third year in a row.
The current Range Rover will enjoy its 10th anniversary in 2012 and Land Rover is giving the model a handful of special editions for the UK market. Come 2013, the Range Rover will enter its fourth generation, so Land Rover is definitely sending out the current generation on a high note. The three special editions include the TDV8 Westminster, the TDV8 Autobiography, and the Supercharged Autobiography.
The Range Rover Range_e is scheduled to go into production for 2013 and will be Land Rover's first production hybrid. Not only will the Range_e offer a diesel-electric hybrid powertrain that is capable of 85 miles per gallon, but it will also retain the off-road capability for which Land Rover is known.
The Range Rover Sport based Range_e plug-in diesel-hybrid has been in development for some time, but you might not know it. Compared to other vehicles on the Land Rover roster such as the Range Rover Evoque and the DC100 concept, you can safely say Land Rover hasn't been heavily pushing the Range_e prototype in the media. Despite this, the Range_e has been getting more notice from the industry and industry watchers alike.
Land Rover's commitment to developing hybrid powertrains has been further reinforced by the new DC100 and DC100 Sport concept vehicles revealed at the Frankfurt Motor Show. The pair of concepts feature diesel and gasoline versions of a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. The DC100 is equipped with the diesel version for maximum off-road capability and the DC100 Sport features the gasoline version.