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New Land Rover Freelander will actually be a Discovery

It seems – as we expected – that Land Rover are looking to make more sense of their range of off-roaders as new models are launched, and are going to concentrate on three core brands – Range Rover, Discovery and Defender – instead of the current mish-mash where many models really overlap with others (the top end Discoverys are really a cheaper Range Rover). So the next Freelander will become an entry-level Discovery with underpinnings borrowed from the Evoque (which is itself based on the current Freelander platform, a development of the Ford Galaxy’s platform), and arrive in both 5-seat and 7-seat guise, with the new Discovery ’5′ getting a platform based on the new Range Rover and perhaps spawning two models. The new Discovery range will be targeted as a ‘Lifestyle’ core range for Land Rover (much as the original Disco was) and the Range Rover range will be both sporty and luxurious, with a 7-seat Grand Evoque XL joining the current Evoque, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.

Concept Car of the Week: BMW Spicup (1969)

The oddly named Spicup, standing for Spider and Coupé, was first presented at the 1969 Geneva Motor Show. Carozzeria Bertone had previous collaborations with BMW such as the 3200CS coupe by Giugiaro. The friendship between Nuccio Bertone and Willhelm Hoffmeister, head of bodywork construction at BMW, must have also contributed to the brand agreeing to provide an early pre-production of the E3 generation 2500 saloon as a base for the concept.

Top Gear, Belfast and a Renault Twingo

Top Gear firing a Renault Twingo in to the sea in Belfast A couple of months ago we reported that Top Gear had upset Belfast with its filming antics for the latest series. To be fair, they didn’t upset Belfast as such, just a publicity seeking politician and a moron from FoE. All par for the course, we’d say.