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Article: Range Rover Sport not just for superstars.
- Article from:
- The Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, FL)
- Article date:
- July 8, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Orlando Sentinel. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Steven Cole Smith
Range Rover showed up in March 1987, a full 17 years after it debuted back home in Britain, prepared to satisfy America's pent-up desire for a luxury, $35,000 sport utility vehicle.
The desire was not quite as pent-up as Rover executives thought, having long ago been satisfied by the Jeep Grand Wagoneer, which had something the Range Rover did not: fake wood-grain paneling. Range Rover countered by using a V-8 engine derived from a 1962 Buick but refused to add fake wood-grain paneling.
So the launch of the Range Rover was a bit more gradual than the company expected. In America, the so-utilitarian Land Rover was much ...