BOLD EV RETHINK FOR RANGE ROVER VELAR

Next-gen model will be a bigger, lower-slung EV with a road bias

- WILL RIMELL

The Range Rover Velar will undergo a radical makeover next year, with electric power and a genre-bending new body shape that will depart from its traditional SUV roots.

It is slated to be launched just a few months after the electric versions of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. But while those models will be virtually identical to their combustion siblings, the Velar will adopt a rakish new profile that fuses elements of saloons and shooting brakes with the more upright silhouette of an SUV.

The Velar's international testing programme is now well under way and spy shots of prototypes suggest the upcoming car will be bigger than the current model, particularly in its length. That is no doubt in a bid to more obviously differentiate it from its Evoque and Range Rover Sport siblings - and potentially to free up space for a third row of seats.

It also appears to ride closer to the ground, which would cement its positioning as the 4x4 brand’s most road-focused model and pitch it as a more obvious rival to the likes of the Porsche Macan Electric and BMW iX.

Before JLR embarked on its wide-reaching ‘Reimagine’ transformation strategy, it was understood to have been developing a low-slung electric ‘Road Rover’ model that would have given Range Rover a rival to the likes of the Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7 Series but with some off-road ability (Autocar, 9 October 2019). Plans for the Road Rover were put on ice when Jaguar scrapped the electric XJ it was to be twinned with, but the new Velar will adopt a similar ethos.