The reign of the Lexus LX as king of the luxury SUVs is over. Long live the new king of luxury SUVs, the new Range Rover.

Or if you prefer Toyota to Land Rover…whatever, make up your own mind.

There is a new Range Rover and here it is.

In this version, Range Rover have called their car fat and put it on a no-dinner, no cookies diet! And it’s worked because the new model is 420kg lighter than the last, a 39% saving. Most of it comes from the all-aluminium monococque body structure, a first in the world in SUVs.

The saving in weight is no doubt going to be felt in a rather large off-road car. They’re promising an unrivalled breadth of capability with transformed handling and agility.

The lightweight body is also going to mean savings on petrol because it translates to less weight to drag around. Doesn’t mean much on the M1 North to Pretoria where there’s a petrol station every 15 kms, but find yourself on the pothole-ridden road between Maputo and Belem, and you’ll be grateful for the added litres of petrol that little less weight has afforded you.

They’ve also re-done the suspension system fitting it with a four-corner air suspension system and a rigorously optimised body structure. All adding to the most important tenet of a Range Rover: luxury.

Measures to ensure the interior is gentleman-clubbish enough include acoustic lamination on the windscreen and side door glass and the fitting of the Meridian surround sound system.

The new Rangie goes on sale in SA in January 2013 and if past sales are anything to go by, it’ll be a popular SA choice.