With two plug-in hybrids: The fifth Range Rover generation
It is high time for Jaguar Land Rover to expand the portfolio of purely electric models. The new "Range" will also arrive this way, but not until 2024. At the start, one has to "settle" for two plug-ins, which offer a substantial 324 and 375 kW, respectively, and are expected to provide a generous purely electric WLTP range of up to 100 kilometers. Visually, the fifth generation is immediately recognized as a Range Rover – this time the British have kept the design very subtle and primarily smoothed out the vehicle, which also benefited the aerodynamics.
More noticeable than the more aerodynamic front is the new rear, which now looks lighter with slender LED strips. Thus, the taillights together with the horizontal element running under the rear window form a proper frame and give the car minimal futurism, after otherwise being recognizable as a new development only at a second glance.
The new Range Rover stands on the "MLA-Flex" platform. This is what the British call their modular longitudinal architecture. The purely electric successor to the Jaguar XJ, which was abruptly halted, was also supposed to be based on this platform. At the time, it was stated that the basis for the XJ had already become outdated and the model would have required too many compromises – probably also with a view to the Mercedes-Benz EQS and the soon-to-be-started BMW 7 Series. However, in the large SUV segment, things move a bit differently, especially as purely electric models are still scarce here. The fifth-generation Range Rover will again come in two wheelbases and, for the first time, will also be offered with seven seats – an important selling point, especially in the USA, given the scarcity of minivans.
The electric Range Rover is unlikely to use the announced 800-volt technology: This is supposed to be reserved for the Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA); there are no such details regarding the MLA. There are no further data on the plug-in hybrids – other than that the WLTP range of over 100 kilometers is expected to correspond to around 80 kilometers of purely electric driving performance in practice. Neither the size of the batteries nor the charging capacities are known. The PHEV variants are also not yet available for order: The configurator only lists three diesel mild hybrids and the gasoline mild hybrid with the 3.0-liter straight-six cylinder. These are JLR's own Ingenium inline engines. The new 4.4-liter V8 gasoline engine without electrification was adapted from BMW.
The five-seater with a standard wheelbase starts in Germany at 121,000 euros gross, which is about 101,680 euros net for the 183 kW strong "base diesel." The First Edition in the long version currently forms the top model: It starts at 162,700 euros gross, which is just under 136,723 euros net. Since fleet consumption can hardly be reduced this way (CO2 emissions start at 202g/km), Jaguar Land Rover plans to join Tesla's CO2 pool for 2021, according to Schmidt Automotive Research. Another member of this pool is already Honda. But plug-ins are on the rise: JLR is said to have achieved around a quarter of its sales with PHEV drives from January to August - considering the CO2 values of the remaining three-quarters, however, this is not enough to reach JLR's fleet target of 131.8 g/km CO2. All the more surprising is that the new Range Rover does not start as a plug-in right from the beginning.
What does that mean?
The new Range Rover is more elegant than ever, but perhaps comes across as a bit too "evolutionary." Main problem: JLR now quickly needs many electric models to get CO2 emissions under control and actually a revolutionary lightweight basis for pure electric vehicles. The new Range is more elegant and aerodynamic than its predecessor, but not quite the big step forward one might have wanted from today's perspective.
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