ULTIMATE BACK SEAT LUXURY

The rear seat of a standard Range Rover Autobiography is a very special place to be, writes Andrew Polsinelli, Land Rover North America General Manager for Product Planning.

But with our new Autobiography Ultimate Edition, we are raising the bar in luxury and comfort to create one of the finest rear‑seat environments in the automotive world.

This really is like flying First Class. The usual three‑across bench has been replaced by two individual, extra‑wide, power‑reclining loungers.

They’re separated by a center console that flows rearwards from the front. Open a cover and there’s a bottle chiller together with two little fold‑out arms to hold your champagne flutes.

Need to do a little work? There is a beautifully‑engineered fold‑out laptop table that’s mounted on a central pivot and hand‑crafted from machine‑turned aluminum.

Prefer to watch a movie, read a book, or catch‑up on your email? Each front seat‑back features a custom‑mounted Apple iPad® that folds out and upwards and sits at eye‑level. And the iPad® devices are removable so you can carry them with you.

Now look around and drink‑in the exquisite craftsmanship of this hand‑assembled interior. The leather is our finest semi‑aniline hide with a choice of two colorways – dark cherry with ivory, or rich Arabica which, as the name suggests, is just like the color and silky texture of a dark coffee bean.

We’re also featuring for the dash and door caps, a new, heavy‑grain wood veneer we call Kalahari™. To let you into a little secret, we had planned to reserve it for a future model but decided instead to debut it on the Autobiography Ultimate Edition. It’s gorgeous.

Now look behind the rear seats and you’ll see the luggage platform features in‑laid teak, just like you’ll find on the deck of some super yacht. And there’s glove‑soft leather lining the sides of the entire load area.

This is truly one of the finest, most exquisite interiors you’ll ever see in any luxury car, and certainly befitting of the Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate Edition vehicle’s MSRP $170,000 price tag.

Who’s going to buy it? Certainly wealthy customers looking for the very best‑of‑the best; people who demand and expect exclusivity and rarity. Production will be limited to 500 world‑wide – the bulk will go to key chauffeur markets like China and Russia – with fewer than 50 earmarked for the US. Deliveries here will start this fall.

While the focus with the Range Rover Autobiography Ultimate Edition is certainly on interior luxury and craftsmanship, let’s not forget that this is also a Range Rover, and a 510‑hp supercharged one at that.

It means that when the snow is falling on the streets of Manhattan, as it seems to have been all winter, chances are the busy executive and his or her Range Rover are going to make it to the office, while most others will be back home still spinning their wheels.