How Land Rover made biggest N.Y. Auto Show splash

NEW YORK -- Now that the press preview New York Auto Show is history, we're pondering what might have been the most lavish, spectacular, newsworthy and interesting new model introduction.

For sheer spectacle value, the answer is easy: It's the Land Rover Discovery concept.

We thought the unbelievable introduction of the Jaguar F Type sports coupe in Los Angeles late last year would have been tough to top -- cars racing through an old hanger through a maze of red laser lights -- but sibling brand Land Rover comes right back with an extravaganza aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum as a prelude to its auto show introduction.

Guests arrived via the retired aircraft carrier's port-side plane elevator, which carried them to the flight deck. There, a multi media display was projected against the ship's "island," the superstructure above the deck, as the music blared. Besides the museum's array of military aircraft, to one side was a mockup of the Virgin Galatic spaceship that will start taking paying passengers to the edge of the atmosphere. To the other was the star of the show, the concept version of the Land Rover Discovery under a half dome.

Lots of us tried to capture the scene with smartphones or cameras slung around our necks, but none of it comes close to the professional video of the event that Land Rover has put out.

Now after these spectaculars, Jaguar and Land Rover will have to figure out how they can top themselves.