Welcome to the 2009 Range Rover Supercharged Autobiography, a charming tale of a life spent as the undeniable king of the SUVs. However, it is a life following in the tire tracks of esteemed royal forebears. Back in the days when you could count the number of SUVs on your fingers, dealers would take customers down a flight of stairs in Grandpa Range Rover just to demonstrate its unmatched capability. This was also a time when the Range Rover's cabin was a world apart from the rugged, hose-out interiors of Jeeps and Land Cruisers. Now that SUVs have become more numerous than paparazzi at a royal wedding, maintaining that throne has become a much tougher task. Yet even after six years of this third generation, it's hard to think of a more lavish and vigorously capable SUV than the 2009 Range Rover Supercharged.

Performance

As its name would suggest, the 2009 Range Rover Supercharged features a supercharged 4.2-liter V8 that pumps out 400 horsepower and 420 pound-feet of torque. With the six-speed automatic transmission lever switched into manual mode, the Range Rover gets up from zero to 60 mph in 6.9 seconds -- hardly record-shattering, but that time is pretty impressive given that the engine is tasked with lugging around 5,880 pounds of premium British luxury off-roader. In the real world, this translates into an SUV that's quick to jump off the line, although you may find the supercharger conspiring with the slow-to-downshift automatic to produce a lackadaisical freeway pass. Fuel economy is quite appalling at 12 mpg city/18 mpg highway and 14 mpg combined. In two highway-heavy weeks, we averaged 17.4 mpg. However, most of this will become moot for 2010 when a new pair of 5.0-liter V8s are introduced (the Supercharged edition surges up to 510 hp, while the base model will be rated at 375 hp).

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Woodfield Nissan ★★★★★

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Jaguar Land Rover building new Special Vehicle Operations facility

Sun, 17 Aug 2014

It's only been a couple of months since Jaguar Land Rover announced the formation of its new Special Operations division, and we've already seen a number of vehicles to come out of it. But now the British automaker has announced a new facility that will house its elite skunkworks department.
Set to be built at Prologis Park in Ryton, England, on the outskirts of Coventry, the new Special Vehicle Operations Technical Centre will encompass dedicated production lines, F1-style flexible workshops, a dedicated paint studio and VIP suite for commissioning bespoke projects. JLR will spend some $33 million on the facility that will be home to 150 specialists - 100 of them being new hires.
The first project which the Special Operations division is working on is the F-Type Project 7, but we've already seen more projects in the pipeline - including the upcoming Range Rover Sport SVR - and you can bet there'll be more. The revival of the Lightweight E-Type also falls under Special Operations, but is undertaken by the Jaguar Heritage department located nearby at Browns Lane.

Ford's J Mays feels vindicated by Fusion reception

Tue, 25 Sep 2012

It's hard to think back now, but the same man overseeing the design of the 2013 Ford Fusion also presided over a rather lackluster period in Ford design, highlighted by vehicles like the Five Hundred and Freestyle. With the redesigned Fusion receiving high praise, J Mays tells Automotive News that he feels vindicated from criticisms suggesting he's not a daring enough designer.
When Mays took over as lead of design in 1997, he admits to having quite an ego ("My head would barely fit through the door some days. I've long since gotten over myself") and the workload to match. With the Blue Oval's portfolio full of premium brands like Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover and Volvo at that point, along with the bread-and-butter Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models, Mays certainly had quite the challenge.
It was in the mid-2000s that Mays took over just the premium brands, and took on the new title of Chief Creative Officer. At the time, Mays endured some criticism for looking backwards to retro styling, rather than setting a new standard for American car design - criticism that Mays says he is free from with the all-new Fusion.

Jaguar Land Rover and Chery investing in Chinese plant

Sat, 24 Nov 2012

While the European auto market for Jaguar and Land Rover is waning, Chinese car buyers can't get enough of the British marques. To meet that demand, Tata Motors, parent company of Jag and Land Rover, is partnering with Chinese automaker Chery Automobile Co.
The two announced plans to invest $1.75 billion to build a new plant and create a new, China-focused brand. 2014 is the target for completion of the factory. Jaguars and Land Rovers built at the facility will be the first ever produced outside the UK according to the Associated Press. The JV will be called Chery Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Company Ltd.
The announcement comes less than a month after JLR announced it would open a design studio in China. It's not clear from the reports whether the two announcements are part of the same JV or two separate plans.

2009 Land Rover Range Rover Sport Supercharged Sport Utility 4-door 4.2l on 2040-cars