Autocar May 11, 2022

OUR HIGHEST accolade at this year’s Autocar Awards, the Issigonis Trophy, goes to a man whose amazing entrepreneurial skills have taken him in just over a decade from being a clever young guy messing about with a rusty BMW to the manufacturer of million-pound electric hypercars of his own design. Mate Rimac, founder of Rimac Automobili, will soon be the head of his country’s biggest company, whose technological know-how is now so advanced that prestige clients such as Hyundai, Porsche and Ferrari come to him for hardware, software and manufacturing projects. Less than a year ago, his company formed a hugely significant joint venture with the Volkswagen Group to take over the running of the Bugatti marque and give it a whole new future, in both financial terms and model structure. Meanwhile,…

The third-generation Range Rover Sport offers a host of powertrains including a V8, promises low-speed agility and highspeed poise from a new fourwheel steering system, and features an overhauled interior with Jaguar Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment. The latest Range Rover Sport was developed alongside the fifth-generation Range Rover, revealed last year, to ensure consistency within the Range Rover family but also, crucially, enough distinction between the two models. JLR design chief Gerry McGovern said the latest model “redefines sporting luxury” and described it as “modern, relevant and progressive”. Reflecting on the model’s impact, McGovern called the Range Rover Sport “the first of its breed in 2005, heralding a new vehicle with Range Rover luxury and sporting character”. He added: “It created a new vehicle segment and was the first model in…

OUR HIGHEST accolade at this year’s Autocar Awards, the Issigonis Trophy, goes to a man whose amazing entrepreneurial skills have taken him in just over a decade from being a clever young guy messing about with a rusty BMW to the manufacturer of million-pound electric hypercars of his own design. Mate Rimac, founder of Rimac Automobili, will soon be the head of his country’s biggest company, whose technological know-how is now so advanced that prestige clients such as Hyundai, Porsche and Ferrari come to him for hardware, software and manufacturing projects. Less than a year ago, his company formed a hugely significant joint venture with the Volkswagen Group to take over the running of the Bugatti marque and give it a whole new future, in both financial terms and model…

The third-generation Range Rover Sport offers a host of powertrains including a V8, promises low-speed agility and highspeed poise from a new fourwheel steering system, and features an overhauled interior with Jaguar Land Rover’s latest Pivi Pro infotainment. The latest Range Rover Sport was developed alongside the fifth-generation Range Rover, revealed last year, to ensure consistency within the Range Rover family but also, crucially, enough distinction between the two models. JLR design chief Gerry McGovern said the latest model “redefines sporting luxury” and described it as “modern, relevant and progressive”. Reflecting on the model’s impact, McGovern called the Range Rover Sport “the first of its breed in 2005, heralding a new vehicle with Range Rover luxury and sporting character”. He added: “It created a new vehicle segment and was the…

You developed this in parallel with the latest Range Rover. Why? “It’s about accentuating the qualities of both. It’s to understand the commonality but also recognise things that don’t work to be shared. For example, the big wheels, flush glazing and seamless model look is shared stuff. But the windscreen angle of the Range Rover Sport has to be sportier than the Range Rover.” What was the main challenge with the third-gen Sport? “How do we modernise a model that is instantly recognisable? We have something iconic with the Range Rover Sport yet have to make it so much better.” How do you avoid models looking too similar – for example, the Range Rover Sport and the Velar? “We have to make sure there’s a family resemblance. We never hold back [on design] because of…

It comes to something, doesn’t it, when the main thing you want from the new Range Rover Sport is a generous helping of what the old one had – even though the current model goes back to 2013, and the mild mid-life facelift is fully five years old. Strong sales in the model’s later years encouraged the company not to rush its replacement. Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern (nowadays group chief creative officer) has always ignored design fads in favour of timelessness and nobody could say his team hasn’t succeeded brilliantly in this area. For 2022, McGovern and co seem again to have successfully walked the fine line between stealing a handy slice of the full-fat Range Rover’s thunder, giving the new model its own persona and embodying (with a look…