Auto Mobile U Spy: Land Rover Prototypes Snapped Running Around Death Valley

While travelling through Death Valley in Eastern California, Carscoop reader Perry D. stumbled upon a convoy of Land Rover prototypes including the compact five-door Range Rover Evoque and the full-size 2013 Range Rover luxury SUV.

We're not sure what the camo'ed up Evoque test cars with the swirly-whirly disguise were doing in Death Valley as the five-door model was unwrapped at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show and is bound to go on sale in the States in October.

However, unless they had a supporting role, one possible explanation is that Land Rover's engineers were testing the baby Range Rover with a different powertrain setup.

Things are clearer when it comes to the 2013 Range Rover, which we've spied in several occasions with the same exact camouflage while testing in Europe.

The British firm's flagship model is expected to land towards the end of 2012 or early 2013 and will be significantly lighter than the current model thanks to the aluminium chassis and an alloy body shell.

The new Range Rover will be offered with a revised engine lineup of V6 and V8 diesels, and V8 petrol units, the latter in both naturally aspirated and supercharged formats, matched to Land Rover’s 8-speed automatic transmission.

More importantly, Land Rover is said to be developing plug-in hybrid variants paired up with diesel and gasoline engines, as previewed by the Range_e concept shown earlier this year.

Along with the Land Rover models, Perry also spotted a couple of Chevrolet Volts (one of which had a "press" sticker) that don't look any different than the ones that are for sale.

Thanks go to Perry D. for the scoop!

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Range Rover VS BMW British Team to Race Range Rover Evoque with BMW Straight-Six at the 2012 Dakar Rally

More than 9,000 km in 14 days in extremely demanding conditions: this is the world-renowned Dakar Rally in which every year hundreds of competitors strive not just for the win, but for a chance to cross the finish line having lived an outstanding experience in the most prestigious off-road race on earth.

The British Excite Rally Raid Team will race three cars commissioned by RaBe Race Cars and driven by an all-British line-up consisting of Martin Rowe, Andrew Coley and John Hardy. And if the photo reminds you of something, you are right: the T3 race car’s body shell is that of the brand-new Range Rover Evoque.

However, power will come from a BMW 3.0-liter turbocharged straight-six diesel pumping out 275HP and 650Nm (479.4 lb-ft) of peak torque. A ZF 6-speed transmission will transfer power to the wheel that are dressed in BF Goodrich desert tires.

“We’ve been working on this project for a long time”, said the team’s business manager David Jones. “We were approached by a manufacturer, RaBe Race Cars, whose staff has been around the sport for a long time. Seeing our professional approach, they asked if we could work together. We have goals we can assist each other with, so we have now set our sights a bit higher.”

Mike Jones of RaBe Race Cars commented: “We have years of off-road motorsport experience at every level, from club to international works teams. The last 15 years have been devoted to Desert raging and achieving top honors at Dakar. It is little known, but we have built cars for many other teams who race under their own colors and logos.”

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