RANGE ROVER is motoring royalty, a living legend loved across the world.
Fans and owners include everyone from the Queen to the Beckhams and Hollywood’s A-list.
They all love the Range Rover’s unique breadth of capabilities, a vehicle equally at home at showbiz parties, ferrying world leaders to major events and taking you off-road to places other vehicles can’t reach.
So when an all-new Range Rover is unveiled, it’s a red-letter day on the motoring calendar.
We got an exclusive viewing from the man who led the design team which created motoring’s newest superstar.
LAND ROVER’s design boss Gerry McGovern admits that creating the new Range Rover was his most daunting task.
He reckons making a new version of a motoring icon such as the Range Rover is a whole lot harder than creating an all-new model such as the Evoque.
He says: “The Evoque didn’t exist so people had no pre-conceived ideas — but there is nothing else like the Range Rover. We had a big debate over whether to be revolutionary or evolutionary.
“Our customers tell us, ‘Don’t change it, just make it better.’ So if you go too far you risk losing its DNA. Don’t go far enough and you risk being criticised for being retro. It’s a very fine balance.”
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When he took the wraps off the new Range Rover and gave me an exclusive preview, I knew instantly they had found the perfect balance.
This is the most dramatically stylish Range Rover ever. It’s a machine so smooth it could persuade 007 to dump his Aston Martin.
When I saw it alongside the current model — still one of the most imposing vehicles on the road — it made it look dated and boxy.
All-terrain response ... allows you to change suspension
Jeremy Williams
Gerry and his team have taken the Range Rover to new heights of executive style and sophistication but it still has the ability to go to places the majority of vehicles can only dream about.
He adds: “It’s unmistakably a Range Rover. When people see you in this vehicle they know you’ve arrived. The best has just got better.
“We wanted to make the Range Rover look more contemporary and take its sophistication and luxury to a new level.
“We have emphasised the premium detail and quality everywhere you look and touch. It now looks more tailored — as if it’s going out to dinner — but at the same time it’s still as hard as nails.”
And as it’s a bit longer, the new model improves one of the few gripes about the Range Rover — average rear passenger space. Now there is nearly five inches of extra leg room.
It’s also a technological leader for the SUV sector. The first all-aluminium body means it’s dramatically lighter — by 925lb — and more economical, more than 35mpg.
The pioneering all-terrain response system, which allows you to change the suspension and settings to cope with the most extreme conditions at the touch of a button, has now been fully automated.
So the computers can sense when the ground conditions change and it automatically changes to cope. How cool is that?
They are also promising a ten per cent improvement to the driving capabilities on the road, boosting everything from cornering to the smoothness and refinement of the ride to Bentley standards.
Off-road they claim a similar improvement of the already class-leading ability.
It seemed a tall order — but after a day in the passenger seat of a camouflaged model I can tell you they’ve done it.
Gerry sums up the new model perfectly when he says: “The best just got better.”
The current Range Rover is still a very handsome car — but when you see it alongside the new model it now looks dated.
Everything comes at a price so expect the Range Rover to start around £70,000 and for some models to go well past the £100,000 mark.
Expensive — but when you are getting the ultimate luxury all-round vehicle in the world, it’s money well spent. On sale next month. First deliveries in January.
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