2012 Range Rover Evoque to Offer Plenty of Customization Options

If the 2012 Range Rover Evoque you order later this year arrives feeling like a stripped-down econo-ute, you didn’t check enough boxes. At the 2011 Geneva Auto Show, Land Rover announced a comprehensive customization and option program that allows customers to tailor their three- or five-door Evoque to suit a wide variety of tastes (and budgets), from clean simplicity to Range Rover–esque opulence. The Evoque will be available in 12 exterior colors and with three contrasting roof treatments, as well as with five wheel designs ranging from 18 to 20 inches in diameter. A dozen interior colors also are available, along with different wood and metal trim pieces. Kick plates are available in aluminum and chrome, while roof rails can be rendered in black or chrome.

If that’s too much decision-making for a person to bear, fear not: the combinations will be aligned along three themes: “Pure” (think base model), “Prestige” (dressier exterior, glitzy 19-inch wheels, two-tone interior coated in leather and wood), and “Dynamic” (sportier exterior with unique fascias and wheels, available contrasting roof treatment, intensified interior in darker colors). Beyond that, Land Rover has come up with its own “designers choice” themes, which it “with carefully coordinated color and material combinations that have their own distinctive character,” according to Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Design Director.

A final bit of fine-tuning can be done once customers take delivery of their Evoque: LED-based ambient lighting is provided in a range of colors that can be selected by the occupants, although if the sportiest mode of the adjustable Terrain Response chassis-adjustment system is selected, the interior is bathed in red. Cool.

Read More: http://blog.caranddriver.com/range-rover-evoque-to-offer-plenty-of-customization-options/

AUTO SHOWS: First Look: 2011 Jaguar XKR-S

Three years after Jaguar launched a performance-tuned XKR-S model at the Geneva Motor Show, the automaker revealed it will be bringing an all-new, more powerful XKR-S to this year's Geneva extravaganza. Deja vu? Perhaps, but the latest XKR-S promises to be a much more intimidating cat than the last.

If nothing else, the new XKR-S certainly looks the part. Designers have added a number of bespoke touches from head to toe, including an aggressive front fascia with a large lower air intake, sweeping air scoops on the front corners, and small, slender air ducts just beneath the hood's lower edge. XKR-S models eschew the XK's vertical fender vent in favor of a horizontal port. Flared side sills are much smoother than those used on both the XKR Speed Pack and the previous XKR-S. A flared rear valence, similar to that used on the Speed Pack, provides room for four exhaust tips, while a wild wing spoiler rests atop the decklid.

Unlike the previous XKR-S, however, the new model receives some additional go along with all this show. The supercharged, direct-injection 5.0-liter V-8 is boosted to roughly 542 horsepower and 501 pound-feet of torque, a gain of 32 horsepower and 40 pound-feet of torque. Jaguar says the power allows the new XKR-S to sprint from 0-60 in a blistering 4.2 seconds, run from 0-100 mph in 8.6 seconds, and hit a top speed of 186 mph. That's plenty quick, but the automaker says the XKR-S is the "fastest Jaguar ever" -- perhaps, unless you consider the XJ220...

Jaguar is keeping a number of the other XKR-S details under wraps until the car's official unveiling next week, but does note the car will receive unique suspension modifications at both ends, and a recalibrated stability system, which potentially allows drivers to push the envelope a little further.

Read More: http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_shows/geneva/2011/1102_2011_jaguar_xkr_s/index.html