TOP 4X4 AWARD RECOGNIZES LR4'S OFF-ROAD CAPABILITY

We’re going to need a bigger cabinet to showcase our awards, writes Chris Marchand, Executive Vice President, Marketing & Sales, Land Rover North America.

 Hot on the heels of our 2010 Range Rover Sport being voted Northwest SUV of the Year, the editors at Petersen’s 4‑Wheel & Off‑Road magazine have named our 2011 LR4 HSE the winner of its highly‑coveted 4x4 of the Year award.

The Petersen’s award is a key one for us. At Land Rover we invest a tremendous amount of research, development and engineering resources to ensure that we can offer the most capable luxury vehicles in the world.

While the substantial changes we made to our 2010 Model Year LR4 transformed its on‑road performance and handling, refinement and overall luxury, we never lost focus on heightening the LR4’s ability to tackle the most severe off‑road conditions imaginable.

Now, with the 2011 LR4, we’ve continued to enhance its off‑road capability with improvements to its Terrain Response® System by adding Hill Start Assist and Gradient Acceleration Control – both of which help a driver tackle the steepest slopes off‑road.

I’m sure it was this all‑round breadth of capability that resulted in the Petersen’s 4‑Wheel & Off‑Road experts declaring the LR4 the “undisputed champion” after the magazine’s grueling 1,000‑mile evaluation.

As Rick Pewe, the magazine’s editor‑in‑chief explains: “The off‑road capability of the LR4 was remarkable, and the on‑road manners were superb. It impressed every judge in the test.”

While the LR4 is proving to be a hit with many automotive journalists, it’s proving to be an even bigger hit with customers. In the first nine months of this year, sales of the LR4 were up an impressive 124 percent over the same period in 2009.

That in itself should be worthy of an award.

Photo credit: Petersen's 4‑Wheel & Off‑Road