Land Rover has lined up a new partnership that might be described as out-of-this-world, in a pairing between the British SUV manufacturer and space tourism company Virgin Galactic.
The two new collaborators staged a flashy celebration Monday night aboard former U.S. aircraft carrier the Intrepid, which included the rollout of Land Rover's new Discovery Vision Concept vehicle.
Set to make its first public appearance at the New York Auto Show later this week, the Discovery Vision Concept SUV features a number of space-age technologies, including gesture controls for the doors, lights and an infotainment system. It also boasts a "transparent hood," which projects an image of the portion of the road that's hidden by the nose of the vehicle on to a head-up display.
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Going forward, the British maker says it plans to offer a "family" of models, rather than just this single offering, in a bid to boost what were already record sales last year. The first of those vehicles is set to debut in 2015.
CNBC parent company NBC Universal is the official broadcast partner of Virgin Galactic's first commercial space flight.
—By CNBC Contributor Paul A. Eisenstein.
