Land Rover has revealed official details and pictures of its all-new Range Rover. Wouldn’t you know, it’s more luxurious, better on-road, more capable off-road and full of even more advanced technology than ever before. Lovely. The bit that we like most though, is how it weighs 420 kg less than its predecessor.
Designed and engineered from top to tail in the UK, the 2013 Range Rover will be produced at Land Rover’s new manufacturing facility at Solihull, employing new aluminium body construction technology. Land Rover says this new construction makes the new Range Rover the world’s first SUV made completely out of a lightweight all-aluminium monocoque body structure. The structure is 39% lighter than the steel body of the outgoing model, which is how it’s able to achieve its substantial weight saving. A new front and rear chassis architecture has also been developed totally out of aluminium.
The typically luxurious Range Rover ride has been retained, but now the vehicle’s handling and agility has been significantly improved with completely re-engineered air suspension.
Styling wise, Land Rover say the new Range Rover has a clean and elegant shape, derived from modern interpretations of 40 years of classic Range Rover designs. The new vehicle takes a significant step forward being the boldest evolution yet of the model’s iconic design. The designers strived to capture elegant lines that also carried with them an intrinsic purity. We say they’ve done a perfect job.
On the inside, Land Rover has gone to great lengths to isolate the occupants from any unnecessary noise, thanks to extra acoustic laminating on the windscreen and side windows. The sumptuous interior makes use of the finest leathers and veneers in modern, contemporary packaging. There’s also 118 mm more legroom for rear passengers and the option of an Executive seat pack, which includes two large massaging seats.
Under the bonnet the new Range Rover will have a new entry-level TDV6 diesel mode, with 190 kW, which will launch the vehicle from 0 – 100 km/h in an admirable 7.4 seconds. This actually makes it faster than the old V8 Range Rover that could only manage the same trick in 7.5 seconds. The lighter weight obviously helps the V6 diesel, in particular, to achieve very impressive fuel economy returns of a claimed and combined 7.4 L/100km, while producing 196 g/km of CO2.
Next up is the 4.4-litre diesel TDV8, with a suitably meaty 250 kW and a 0 – 100 km/h sprint of a hot-hatch busting 6.5 seconds. This leaves the supercharged 5.0-litre V8 petrol still at the top of the pile. Previously, the cleanest Range Rover only managed 9.5 L/100km and 253 g/km of CO2. Land Rover does say a diesel hybrid can be expected in 2013, which should achieve 169 g/km when it arrives.
For 4x4ing, not that many Range Rovers ever make it out of the city, it has better approach and departure angles for steep hills, a wading depth 90 mm deeper than before and there’s a next generation Terrain Response system.
Land Rover South Africa say that while they have not finalised pricing just yet, despite the massive evolution of the new model, the new Range Rover will still start and end its pricing roughly where the current model does. That’s around R1.3 million for the TDV8 and up towards R1.5 million for the supercharged V8 petrol. We sincerely hope the entry level TDV6 will surprise us with its competitive pricing when the new Range Rover comes to South Africa in the first quarter of 2013.
