Jaguar and Land Rover Pull Back the Curtain Before the LA Auto Show
21 November 2011
With the LA Auto Show opening to the general public on November 18, Jaguar and Land Rover took the opportunity to provide a select group of media from around the world, a glimpse at what is waiting in the wings for Jaguar and Land Rover in the upcoming years.
The first part of the program consisted of a ride and drive to two decidedly different locales. While one half of the media drove to the “Jaguar Land Rover Malibu Experience” which took place at the Rosenthal Estate and Winery in the Malibu Hills, overlooking the Pacific, the other half of the group drove to Santa Monica Beach to drive the Land Rover DC100 Sport Concept.
The DC100 Sport Concept was first shown to the media at this year’s Frankfurt Auto Show. The vehicle received rave reviews from media and public alike. The DC100 is intended to be a modern reinterpretation of the iconic Land Rover Defender, while capturing the adventurous, indomitable spirit established by the Land Rover Series 1 in 1948. The members of the media were invited to drive the DC100 Sport Concept, at a beach setting under controlled conditions, insuring that Land Rover’s long standing philosophy to “Tread Lightly” was strictly observed.
The members of the media were also invited to drive several other current examples of Land Rover and Range Rover products, including the all‑new Range Rover Evoque.
The second half of the group drove to the magnificent Rosenthal Estate and Winery. There, media were able to drive the XKR‑S Convertible development mule.
Clad in a coat of semi‑gloss graphite paint, the XKR‑S Convertible looked more like a Stealth fighter than a high performance luxury sports car. Used for developmental purposes, the XKR‑S development mule was equipped with a full roll cage and competition‑style seat belts to insure safety, should someone become over exuberant during testing. Here again, members of the media were provided with a range of Jaguar and Land Rover products to sample as well.
Both the DC100 and the DC100 Sport Concepts, along with the Jaguar C‑X16 concept car, will be making their North American debut at the 2011 LA Auto Show this week. The Jaguar XKR‑S Convertible, which features the same highly efficient 5.0‑liter 550 horsepower, V8 supercharged engine as the XKR‑S Coupe, will make its global debut at a private sneak preview reception in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, Nov 16, and will be available for viewing by the public from Nov 18‑27.