Autocar April 13, 2022

THERE’S AN eye-watering figure doing the rounds: Jaguar Land Rover received £68,000 per car sold in the final quarter of 2021. This followed an extreme focus on producing Range Rover-badged cars – and particularly the Range Rover, as its most expensive, and profitable, model. Even then, the firm was loss-making. It’s safe to say, then, that for the future of JLR, there’s more pressure on the new Range Rover to succeed than ever before. This week’s cover star is so crucial for Britain’s most important car maker that it could even be life-saving. The Range Rover has long been an unchallenged trailblazer, years before the likes of the Cayenne and GLS came onto the scene. To succeed, it must usurp those cars and set the bar for a new generation…

THERE’S AN eye-watering figure doing the rounds: Jaguar Land Rover received £68,000 per car sold in the final quarter of 2021. This followed an extreme focus on producing Range Rover-badged cars – and particularly the Range Rover, as its most expensive, and profitable, model. Even then, the firm was loss-making. It’s safe to say, then, that for the future of JLR, there’s more pressure on the new Range Rover to succeed than ever before. This week’s cover star is so crucial for Britain’s most important car maker that it could even be life-saving. The Range Rover has long been an unchallenged trailblazer, years before the likes of the Cayenne and GLS came onto the scene. To succeed, it must usurp those cars and set the bar for a new generation of Range…

This is the fifth-generation Range Rover and, well, it doesn’t feel like it needs a reinvention, does it? While the new Land Rover Defender was a product transformed and the latest Land Rover Discovery went a bit on-piste compared with its predecessor, what we have here is the same luxury car meets SUV – the sort of model the Range Rover helped to define – only more so. More luxury, more refinement, more size. More technology? More price? Put it this way: “Alexa, how much is this new Range Rover I’m sitting in?” “From £99,375.” Some background, then. The new Range Rover can be had in short-or long-wheelbase forms, and both are larger than the versions they replace. It rides on a new platform called MLA Flex, 80% aluminium but…

This is the fifth-generation Range Rover and, well, it doesn’t feel like it needs a reinvention, does it? While the new Land Rover Defender was a product transformed and the latest Land Rover Discovery went a bit on-piste compared with its predecessor, what we have here is the same luxury car meets SUV – the sort of model the Range Rover helped to define – only more so. More luxury, more refinement, more size. More technology? More price? Put it this way: “Alexa, how much is this new Range Rover I’m sitting in?” “From £99,375.” Some background, then. The new Range Rover can be had in short-or long-wheelbase forms, and both are larger than the versions they replace. It rides on a new platform called MLA Flex, 80% aluminium but with a steel bulkhead…

The Range Rover is sold in more than 170 countries, and not all of them are quite up to the speed of some others when it comes to electrification. The P360 (355bhp) and P400 (394bhp) 3.0-litre petrol straight sixes are from JLR’s Ingenium family, with a twin-scroll turbocharger, an electric supercharger and an integrated starter-generator to give a little torque-filling kick. The D250 (247bhp), D300 (296bhp) and D350 (345bhp) diesels are also straight-six Ingenium units and, like the petrols, they have a 48V mild-hybrid system to help nudge the car along and reduce overall consumption. All of these so far get a mild-hybrid system, but in the very few markets that don’t care, they will go without. The P530 (523bhp) petrol V8 has received a new sump, new intake and some other strengthening ribs…

The Range Rover is sold in more than 170 countries, and not all of them are quite up to the speed of some others when it comes to electrification. The P360 (355bhp) and P400 (394bhp) 3.0-litre petrol straight sixes are from JLR’s Ingenium family, with a twin-scroll turbocharger, an electric supercharger and an integrated starter-generator to give a little torque-filling kick. The D250 (247bhp), D300 (296bhp) and D350 (345bhp) diesels are also straight-six Ingenium units and, like the petrols, they have a 48V mild-hybrid system to help nudge the car along and reduce overall consumption. All of these so far get a mild-hybrid system, but in the very few markets that don’t care, they will go without. The P530 (523bhp) petrol V8 has received a new sump, new intake and…