All-new Range Rover revealed

Wednesday, 27 October 2021

Land Rover has revealed the all-new fifth-generation Range Rover.

Land Rover has revealed the all-new fifth-generation Range Rover at an online event this morning.

While clearly still a Range Rover, the company has taken a more minimalist approach to the design, with Jaguar Land Rover’s design boss, Gerry McGovern, saying: “It is possible to respect your DNA and still project forwards – and that is what we have done.”

McGovern says the new Range Rover is defined by three lines that can trace their origins back through the generations; the falling roofline, strong waistline and rising sill line. These traditional features combine with a short front overhang and a distinctive new boat tail rear – complete with the expected split tailgate – to “create an elegant profile that conveys Range Rover’s peerless presence”.

The all-new Range Rover has been revealed, with a more minimalist look and a range of powertrain options.

The boat tail rear is the biggest design departure for the new Range Rover and is a bold, almost retro design cue on what is otherwise a very modern minimalist design. It will no doubt be a love-it-or-hate-it change.

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The biggest design change for the new Range Rover is the new rear end, which we rather like.

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The interior has moved even deeper into luxury car territory, with a huge touchscreen dominating the dash.

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The new SV models take the interior luxury even further, with a huge range of customisation available.

Of course, the interior is next-level luxury, with multiple large screens and high-quality materials throughout, that sees the Range Rover push even deeper into luxury car territory.

The SV adds the Corinthian Bronze exterior highlights.

The company says that customers have a wider choice of materials and finishes, including “innovative textiles and tactile Ultrafabrics” with a continuation of Land Rover’s relationship with Kvadrat – Europe’s leading manufacturer of premium textiles – to create a “defining materiality option” that is lighter and generates only a quarter of the CO2 of traditional leather.

New noise-cancelling technology also plays a large part in upping the luxury experience in the new Range Rover, with a third-generation system that monitors wheel vibrations, tyre noise and engine sounds transmitted into the cabin, as well as external microphones in the wheel arches.

For the first time the Range Rover will be available with a seven-seat option.

The system then generates a “cancelling signal” which is played through the audio system’s 35 speakers, including a pair of 60mm diameter speakers in the headrests for each of the four main cabin occupants, which “create personal quiet zones similar to the effect when using high-end headphones”.

Of course, the new Rangie is also packed with other tech, including four-wheel steering, advanced air filtration, pre-emptive suspension that uses navigation data to read the road ahead, over-the-air software updates for more than 70 electronic modules, embedded Amazon Alexa voice assistant, and power-assisted doors with integrated hazard detection and anti-pinch safety features.

The new rear end features indicators that run along the top, either side of the Range Rover lettering, while the brake lights are the slim units that run down either side of the tailgate.

Being a Range Rover, it also has to be ridiculously capable off-road as well, even though the vast majority of its buyers will never get to experience its capabilities there.

To this end the Range Rover gets Land Rover’s Terrain Response 2 system, which harnesses the various chassis systems to automatically provide the “perfect settings for the surroundings, from a choice of six driving modes, to minimise driver workload across all terrains”.

As always, the driver can select the most appropriate setting manually or use Configurable Terrain Response to create a bespoke chassis set-up.

The new Range Rover sits on the company’s new flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture, MLA-Flex, which allows for ICE, PHEV and BEV powertrains, and Land Rover says that, while the ICE versions will launch first, plug-in hybrid powertrains will be available later in 2022, while a pure-electric Range Rover will join the lineup in 2024.

Launch engines will be the D350 diesel engine and a powerful new petrol flagship – the P530 twin turbo V8 that is a BMW-supplied unit that offers increased refinement and performance, and is 17 per cent more efficient than the previous Range Rover V8.

Two PHEV models – the P440e and P510e – will join the lineup later next year and will combine Land Rover’s in-line six-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine with a 38.2kWh lithium-ion battery (with a usable capacity of 31.8kWh) and a 105kW electric motor integrated with the transmission. Both models have the same powertrain, with the P510e being more powerful.

Land Rover says the PHEVs will provide a WLTP range of up to 100km of pure-electric driving (about 80km in the real world), which it says accounts for 75 per cent of trips taken in Range Rovers, according to its customer research. The company says that the packaging of the battery beneath the vehicle and within the wheelbase ensures both luggage space and all-terrain capability are uncompromised.

At launch the new Range Rover will be available in HSE and Autobiography models, while a First Edition will be available throughout the first year of production, based on the Autobiography and featuring a unique specification.

Both standard or long wheelbase versions are available with five seats, while in a first for the Range Rover, the LWB model will also be available with a third row “for extended comfort for up to seven adults”.

The new Range Rover also introduces the new SV model (not to be confused with the hot SVR performance variants of other Jaguar Land Rover models) that is “an exquisite interpretation of Range Rover luxury and personalisation from the experts at Special Vehicle Operations” and cranks up the luxury even further.

“The new model perfectly encapsulates five decades of Range Rover DNA while refining the vehicle to suit the 21st-century technology-immersed customer,” said Steve Kenchington, Land Rover New Zealand chief executive.

“The new model is an evolution of the Range Rover marque – the technology and grandeur details showcase industry firsts, solidifying the unparalleled league of the Range Rover.”

The first New Zealand deliveries are expected in mid-2022, with the short wheelbase D350 HSE and long wheelbase P530 seven-seat Autobiography models leading the way from May, with the First Edition also being available.

The SV and PHEV models are expected to join the local lineup in August, when further variants are also expected to become available to the local market.

Pricing will be revealed closer to the local launch but don’t necessarily expect to get one by then – strong demand is likely to see the first shipment be sold out very soon, if not already.