As Land Rover notches its 20th year in North America, the original luxury sport utility vehicle finds itself surrounded by competition.

To keep pretenders at bay, Land Rover has driven further up-market with models such as the Range Rover Supercharged that commands a base price of $92,035.

Crafted in the town of Solihull, England, whose Anglo-Saxon name means, appropriately, muddy or “soily” hill, the Range Rover remains true to its roots, despite its ownership by Ford Motor Co. and its previous entanglement with BMW.

• Range Rover costs from £54k
• New diesel engine for 4×4
• £75k buys V8 Supercharged Vogue SE

The revised Range Rover goes on sale this month, with prices starting at £53,995 for the new TDV8 HSE.

This car features a new 3.6-litre V8 diesel that replaces the old TD6. It promises more power (272bhp), more pace (0-60mph in 8.5sec instead of 12.7sec) and similar fuel economy, at 25.1mpg.

The V8 petrol and V8 supercharged engines remain unchanged, while all 2007 model-year Range Rovers get a revised fascia, extra storage space and improved air-conditioning.

There’s also plenty of kit – HSE spec gets you a six-speed auto ‘box, air suspension, electric leather seats and 19-inch alloys.

Land Rover announced that its highly regarded Design Director, Geoff Upex, is to retire from the company at the end of 2006 after 23 years service. He will be succeeded by Gerry McGovern, currently Director, Advanced Design, Land Rover, who will assume responsibility for all Land Rover design with immediate effect. To ensure a smooth handover, Geoff will stay with the company until the end of the year and will continue to play a key role in the launch of new products including the all-new Freelander2/LR2.