The new Range Rover -- only the third new Range Rover model in 31 years -- has gone on sale and immediately voted BBC Top Gear magazine's Car of the Year.

And it has also been praised by Prime Minister Tony Blair, who said: "Land Rover is a great British success story, producing vehicles recognised the world over. I'm sure this new vehicle will build on that reputation and is great news for the West Midlands."

The new Range Rover was designed at Land Rover's corporate, design and engineering headquarters in Gaydon, near Banbury. It is being manufactured at Land Rover's plant in Solihull on a new production line.

The third-generation Range Rover aims to be a vehicle that blends key styling cues with eye-catching modern 'jewellery'.

Many of the traditional Range Rover elements have remained with the vehicle since the original was launched more than 30 years ago.

In essence, a Range Rover would not be a Range Rover if it did not have the practical horizontally-split tailgate, a bold upright front with simple grille, the commanding driving position, the clamshell bonnet with its castellations and the almost rectangular interplay between the horizontal and vertical body lines.

Metal-look vents on the trailing edges of both front wings help increase the amount of air fed to the engine and the new model sports eye-catching headlamps.

In order to make the new Range Rover more spacious inside, the new vehicle is bigger externally than its predecessor -- it has grown longer and taller and has greater ground clearance than before.

It is some 195 inches from bumper to bumper, 9.3 inches longer than its predecessor. At 73.3 inches tall, it has grown almost two inches over the previous car.

Ground clearance, one of the most significant dimensions for an off-road vehicle, has risen by 2.6 inches to 11.1 inches when the Range Rover is on its highest suspension setting. The body itself is 2.6 inches wider at 77 inches, but the overall width -- including the door mirrors -- is slightly reduced by 1.5 inches to 86.3 inches. But there is more head, leg and shoulder room for those in the front and an improvement in knee room for those in the rear.