The exposed surfaces, they said, may make the rover's geological investigations easier.
It has already spent £400m rebuilding its Oxford plant to make the Rover 75, which has just gone on sale.
In addition, SAIC has acquired and sold on to another Chinese carmaker, Nanjing, the similar rights to make the Rover 45, including the design details of a new model under development.
His instructions, Dr. Maimone recalled, were "to make the rover smart and able to sense on its own its surroundings, the slope of terrain and any hazards in its way, which rocks to drive over or avoid".
And any day now, an Iranian company is expected to sign a deal with Rover, a struggling British car manufacturer, to buy and ship to Iran the production line once used to make the Rover 100.In this section A lot of bottle A tricky business All for one, and one for all?
Eschewing numerous Hollywood offers, Michôd returned to Australia to make The Rover: a powerful film set in a semi-futuristic Australia, in which Guy Pearce's mysterious traveller is forced to join with Robert Pattinson's naïve American kid.
"I was pretty much totally unfamiliar with his work, but I had had a meeting with him before I even know I was going to make "The Rover" and really liked him," Michôd said.
The Solihull plant employs and makes the Range Rover, Discovery and Defender models.
He decided to make the Land Rover "an inherent presence in the story, something always there – implicit, strong, solid, reliable, ready to function – very like the part it plays in my memory", adding: "Welcome to an icon of motor vehicle history".
We're just out to get the best, most lust-worthy car (or SUV), and that makes the Range Rover top dog in our book.
