SPY PICS: Next generation Range Rover

The high and mighty Range Rover -- the Rolls-Royce of luxury 4WDs -- is set to grow even bigger and move further upmarket.

Spy photos of an early test mule snapped in the northern winter give clear signs that the next model will be wider and longer.

Despite being cleverly disguised by the body of the current Range Rover, the test vehicle's bigger, home-made nose and tacked-on wheel arches give the game away.

The new nose is almost certainly a pointer to a range of new engines, but it also could mean that Range Rover is creating more clearance under the bonnet, to meet more stringent pedestrian-protection regulations.

Meanwhile the wider track will almost certainly lead to an even bigger cabin -- even though the current Range Rover is already massive inside.

The growth spurt will be welcome news to buyers in North America, the biggest market for Range Rover; despite its giant proportions, it only looks like a mid-size SUV next to domestic models there.

Given that China will also be high on the new Range Rover's priority list -- it is the world's biggest and fastest-growing car market -- the extra size will give the next model limousine-like levels of back seat comfort. In China, many of the new rich are chauffeur driven.

The original Range Rover pioneered the luxury 4WD segment, but today it faces competition from more than 20 rivals.

In Australia, although Range Rover sales went up 46 per cent last year after the introduction of a facelifted model -- the actual tally of 175 vehicles is still relatively modest and accounts for just two per cent of Land Rover sales locally.

For example, Porsche sold almost twice as many 911 sportscars -- and five times as many Cayenne 4WDs. The Range Rover's nearest rival in the luxury 4WD class in terms of size, the Audi Q7, notched up more than 1000 sales last year.

The next generation Range Rover will be the first all-new model in close to 14 years when it is unveiled in late 2013 as a 2014 model -- and only the fourth generation Range Rover in more than 40 years.

It will be the second Range Rover vehicle designed and engineered solely under the ownership of the Indian Tata Group, following the controversial Range Rover Evoque hatch, which is due in Australian showrooms in a fortnight.

The current generation Range Rover was introduced in 2002 having been mostly developed by German car maker BMW, which owned the brand from 1994 to 2000.

The Land Rover brand was bought by Ford in 2000 but the North American car maker sold it to Tata in 2008, which also bought Land Rover's 'sister' brand Jaguar at the same time.

-- with Carparazzi

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