The point of that preamble? To show there is plenty that’s familiar with this all-new Range Rover, not least that iconic shape now finessed with what Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern sums up as “breathtaking modernity”.
There are, however, plenty of new tricks up this Range Rover’s sleeve, more in fact than ever before. There needs to be if it is to prove that the king of the luxury SUV mountain for a highly connected electric age is born and raised in Solihull.
What’s new?
After 51 years, this is the first Range Rover to have a seven-seat variant. It is the first with four-wheel steering – as a result its turning circle is the same as a hatchback’s – and the first with self-opening and closing doors. It is the first Range Rover on 23-inch wheels as standard and the first Land Rover ever to have five-link rear suspension.
This model marks the debut of both clever suspension that reads the road ahead for a smoother ride and a 48-volt electronic roll control system to take the body sway out of fast cornering.
It is the first Range Rover with, not just a drop-down tailgate, but “tailgate event seating”, an attempt to retake the event seating high ground from the Rolls-Royce Cullinan (think seat backrests, dimmable spotlights and luxury soft furnishings for those al fresco moments). And it is the first Range Rover to have a passenger already on board, embedded into the electrical architecture: Alexa. You will be able to summon her with orders such as “Alexa, let’s off-road!”, or “Alexa, take me to Buckingham Palace.”
More significant, and a very neat trick for our ULEZ times, is an ability to travel around 50 miles just on electric power. That’s the headline of the new “extended range” plug-in hybrid model. But the biggest trick comes in 2024 when an all battery-electric Range Rover joins the line-up.