When the fourth generation Range Rover comes to Ireland at the end of the month, it will offer a totally different representation of the model, writes Brian Byrne from the car's global launch in Morocco.
OK, it will still look like a Range Rover, because you can't change DNA. And it will still be luxurious, because that's one part of what that DNA is. And it will be expensive, but that's also in the car's complex helix.
But it will be more. And less.
More space, more luxury, even more of the legendary ability to be totally at home on the highway or in the most untamed parts of the world.
Less weight, less fuel consumption and emissions, and much less impact on the environment both in its construction and its use.
I'll be driving it over the next two days from the sand dunes of Essaouira up to beyond the snowline in the Atlas Mountains overlooking Marrakesh. So I'll not write just now about how it works in and between those extremes.
But here are some thoughts. An all aluminium construction, first time in the model, goes substantially towards saving the weight of five average occupants in a car close enough to the same size as its current version. To get a perspective, the new Range Rover is 23kg lighter than a 3 Series BMW, and just 12kg heavier than a Mini Countryman.
That alone means that launch versions will be up to 22 percent more frugal in fuel consumption and emissions than the current car, not least because a 3.0 V6 diesel is now capable of powering the car to acceleration and torque figures that were relatively recently in the province of sports cars.
In construction, more than 50 percent of the metal used in the new car is recycled, and the company has a target of 75 percent. Some 85 percent of the whole car is recyclable. And even in the manufacture of the leather used, savings of 46 percent have been achieved in carbon costs.
And there's so much more to be told about a car and brand which I admit up front I have long admired tremendously. So you know how the rest of this story is probably going to run.
But that's for coming days.
