The luxury in the new Range Rover

One of the highlights of the huge North American International Auto Show press preview early in January was the unveiling of the all-new 2003 Range Rover from Land Rover of England. Revealed by Premier Automotive Group (Ford luxury division) chairman Wolfgang Reitzle, the luxury SUV was widely praised by journalists in attendance - and these are people who are all too often unimpressed by expensive and exotic products. I was convinced that the new Range Rover looks a lot better than its predecessor, which always seemed to me to be a little on the bland side from a styling standpoint. The new RR seems to look back to the first model, which was widely hailed as a masterpiece of full-size SUV styling. The lines are clean and tidy, but there are cues here and there to remind us how successful this vehicle was right from the word go back in the early 1970s. The trademark Range Rover grille is there, of course, and you won't mistake this rig for any other automaker's SUV. Fit and finish looked excellent to me and Land Rover has pledged to make quality even better than hitherto with its new vehicle. The 2003 Range Rover is being produced on a new line at the company's Solihull plant in the English Midlands. Over $400-million has been invested to enhance quality and streamline production techniques. Employees have been assigned to training schemes to help them build what Land Rover hopes will be the highest-quality luxury SUV available.

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