The US already has two...

The US already has two superior car shows - Detroit and Los Angeles. Add Chicago in the first week of February, as well as New York, and that"s four major car exhibitions before spring has properly sprung. Britain doesn"t even get one big show a year, so I suppose that"s why Land Rover decided it had little choice but to reveal the Disco on foreign soil. Much as I would have preferred the unveiling to be at Birmingham"s NEC, the firm with its roots in Solihull and its heart in nearby Gaydon did the right thing by choosing New York. Elsewhere, the car would have had to compete with more headline-grabbing launches.

But delighted as I am about the Landie, I"m concerned about the Grand Cherokee. You"d have thought the Germans would have learned a few painful lessons after replacing the boxy but iconic Cherokee with a rounder, fluffier version that looks like a cross between a Japanese Suzuki and a Korean Hyundai. But unlike the Disco, it"s simply too similar to the outgoing version. Chrysler and Jeep have - or had - some of the most talented and enthusiastic vehicle designers in the world. Why their German masters are forcing them to produce comparatively tame-looking new 4x4s is beyond me. Anyone who"s driven one off road knows Jeeps have always been on a par with Land Rovers as the most capable vehicles on the planet for serious mud-plugging. But as was proved in New York, Land Rover now has the edge, as its latest products look that much better, fresher and more desirable.

American car buyers seem in no mood to end their love affair with big, thirsty 4x4s and pick-ups, despite the "scandalous" fuel price rises that have swept the country in recent weeks. The now outrageous and totally unacceptable cost of a US gallon is apparently troubling every driver, newspaper and TV news programme. And that cost is about a quid. That"s for a gallon, not a litre. For several days, I drove about the States and it cost me all of about (н‚бЈ11) to refuel. Americans will happily queue to pay five bucks for a polystyrene cup full of frothy milk laced with a weak shot of caffeine which they laughingly call a cappuccino. But ask them to pay around н‚бЈ1 for a gallon of quality unleaded, and they"re prepared to go to war. Money really is everything in America, and it"s my impression that the dollars the average citizen least likes spending are those which pay for gasoline. Strange, then, that so many continue to drive 10mpg gas-guzzlers when 50mpg cars are very much on sale, but widely ignored across the US.