Geneva Motor Show 2004 - Land Rover

Centre of attention on Land Rover’s stand was the Stormer, the company’s first ever concept car. Making its first appearance in Europe after a world debut at January’s Detroit Show, the car gives a clear pointer to an all-new vehicle due to go on sale late next year.

Land Rover's managing director, Matthew Taylor, said: ‘The Stormer is very much conceived to be an on-road performance machine, as well as class-leading off-road like all Land Rovers.’

The company wants the three-door 4x4 to be the most road-focussed model it has ever produced while retaining the marque’s traditional off-roading ability. To do this, it has developed a new system called Terrain Response which provides six different ride settings by adjusting the suspension, throttle response, ride height and traction control to suit the conditions.

The Stormer is based on a newly developed platform which will be used on forthcoming Land Rover models, and is powered by an adapted supercharged Jaguar V8 engine developing 370bhp.

For the production version, Land Rover is expected to tone down the Stormer’s aggressive styling, while the concept’s gullwing doors are also unlikely to make it into production.

Expect to pay from around £40,000 for entry-level versions of the car.