Land Rover sub-brand Range Rover revealed an all-new vehicle in its lineup today with the Range Rover GT. Similar in size to the Range Rover Sport, the GT will be the first all-electric Range Rover on the EMA platform. However, as this architecture can accommodate HEV production, don’t rule out the GT coming in hybrid form eventually, too.
While we have not yet seen the car’s exterior sans camo, the ride height appears lower than traditional SUVs in the Range Rover family, more of a 4-door coupe-style body, making this the closest thing to a car to come out of the LR part of JLR. We’ll have to reserve judgment on the exterior for when the camouflage comes off, but the folks at Range Rover did share thoughts on the vehicle’s positioning and its interior.
What Is It?
For anyone looking for another SUV, this won’t be for you. The Range Rover GT is exactly what its name suggests — a grand touring vehicle. As it wears the Range Rover badge, we’re told it will have the capability of a Range Rover, only in a more car-like form. Off-roading? One can only hope. The GT will be the fifth vehicle in the Range Rover lineup, which already includes the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Velar, and Evoque.
Though light on many details, we do know that the EMA platform accommodates two motors, one up front and the second in the rear, availing the GT with all-wheel drive. It also supports 800-volt charging.
Range Rover executives were clear that the GT pushes the boundaries of traditional brand properties. The GT seeks out a customer looking for refinement but in a more modest, reductionist design.
“This is not just a full-sized Range Rover squished into a car. Hopefully they’ll like it,” said Pavel Spirine, Head of Product for Range Rover. “We’ll find out.”
It’s Inside That Counts
The interior feels like as much of a departure for the brand as it does producing a touring sedan. Inside the Range Rover GT you find a design language pushing the outer limits of the minimalist, modern, and architectural spectrum.
The unfussy, single-line dash design nods to the original 1970 Range Rover – a reference perhaps too subtle for many to notice, but it’s there, nonetheless. Air vents, airbag compartment seams, and speakers hide beneath a sustainable wool blend material from long-time JLR fabrication partner Kvadrat that covers the dash. It’s such a minimalistic approach one might not even realize the HVAC, airbags, or audio systems exist. Music and AC will simply float at you from somewhere. Let’s hope you never experience the emergency bags coming at you, too.
Neither will you find any open-pore wood among the center console trim materials, but instead plastic. However, this is a Range Rover, and this isn’t just ordinary plastic. A translucent plastic covers two vented wireless phone charging pads. That means when your phone lights up, you’ll be able to see that light through the cover and know someone’s reaching out. (Will folks actually cover their phones, we’re not sure. Would you know anyway thanks to smartphone integration, maybe).
Thankfully, the phone chargers are both rubberized for grip when you’re flinging your Rover GT around mountain roads then presumably onto the dirt roads beyond the tarmac, because Range Rover. A Moonlight colored chrome makes an appearance on door trim and other strategic locations. The lack of mixed materials and the appearance of gray plastic on surfaces not wrapped in fabric was a deliberate choice on the part of the design team. With such a “reductive” interior design one assumes the exterior will match the inside’s cool, sleek aesthetic.
Still Luxurious
Seats are covered in a synthetic material Range Rover calls Ultra Fabrics. More pliable than leather, it comes in sheets, meaning seat shape and technology can be pushed beyond what animal hides can accommodate without copious amounts of busy stitching. And while the seats might not look comfortable, one moment in them will tell you otherwise. They feel every bit as luxurious and sumptuous as you’d expect in a Range Rover.
Thanks to a long wheelbase, the second-row legroom exceeds what you’d expect in a traditional 2+2 grand tourer. We guess the second row might be configured for three passengers eventually, so 2+3? Regardless of their number, your backseat friends get as much space to stretch out as in a full-sized Range Rover. Given the sloped roofline (at least from what I experienced sitting inside) it felt like a cocoon. Folks with a long torso might feel this more acutely than your short-statured sitters. Rear visibility felt hampered by a thick C-pillar. This might be thanks to the camo, or it’s indicative of the design. Either way, Range Rover is sure to give drivers plenty of electric eyes in the form of a robust suite of safety features.
While we only saw one color way, at the GT’s release we’d assume customers will be able to spec their interior in additional colors and themes.
The intention was more sleek, modern sanctuary rather than princely, leather-chaired library. If their aim was a distinctive departure, they’ve achieved it.
Tech Forward, but Not Over-Teched
The dash looks conspicuously and delightfully devoid of massive screens. It has a primary touchscreen and a standard equipment head-up display that peeks over the two-spoke steering wheel, which takes on a soft square shape. Range Rover zigs here where other luxury car brands are zagging with pillar-to-pillar digital displays.
You won’t find buttons on the dash, either. General functions are operated through the screen, including steering wheel adjustment, HVAC controls, and seat position. There are some buttons on the steering wheel that offer a delightful click to the touch. No haptic feedback here, thank you very much. Architectural stalks extend from the steering wheel.
It might be simple, but the restraint designer’s exercised clearly comes with intention and a calculated understanding of what future customers will appreciate. Or at the very least something Range Rover executives are counting on.
We don’t know when the Range Rover GT’s exterior will be revealed, don’t have a word on model year or delivery dates, nor do we have pricing information at this time. But knowing there’s a new vehicle coming from a storied brand like Range Rover, we’re eager to hear more.
