AUTOMOBILES

4WD Sports Utes: Most car dealers practice diversification--sell trucks, imports, domestics, entry-level and luxury cars and you have something for everyone.

But a counter-cyclical car lot opens its doors today in Mission Viejo.

Land Rover Mission Viejo is among the first in a string of centers the British truck company plans for the United States. The only new vehicles to be sold there are four-wheel-drive Land Rovers: the new Discovery model, the Defender 90 and the Range Rover.

Dealer Ken McGraw, former vice president of marketing for Land Rover North America, will offer a variety of makes in his used car section, but only of the four-wheel-drive sports utility variety: Explorers, Blazers, Jeeps, Monteros, Troopers, Rodeos, Pathfinders and the like.

Trucks for personal rather than business use are the best-selling vehicles in the nation, and 4WD sports utes, as fans call them, are the hottest branch on the truck family tree. McGraw said his goal is to make the dealership a must stop for every four-wheel-drive shopper in Orange County, even if they’re not in the market for one of Land Rover’s $28,000-and-up models.