The Term SUV-Coupe Is Becoming A Thing, And There Might Soon Be A Range Rover For That Specific Niche.
With Mercedes-Benz getting into the game competing against the BMW X6 with their GLE Coupe, Jaguar-Land Rover (JLR) could be could be mulling a move into the fray with a sportier low-roofed competitor by expanding the Range Rover stable.
A lot of us did not expect BMW’s X6 to have quite the impact that it did on the market when it was introduced, and when it did created an entirely new sub-category called the ‘SUV-coupe’ – actually, a fair few had hoped it was a passing fad.
Sources have divulged to UK’s Autocar that there has been a lot of interest within the Tata-owned British manufacturer for a stronger push into the SUV market to support the arrival of the Jaguar F-Pace, from which it could definitely maybe be derived.
Land Rover was suspected of toying with the development of a new Range Rover model based around the F-Pace’s aluminium-intensive architecture, but the question of where exactly that car would fit into JLR’s roadmap remained ambiguous. Despite its apparent non-existence, their sources still affectionately refer to it as the Evoque Plus.
Upon further informed guesswork, the money is on this new mystery model being the spearhead into which JLR will introduce new (and higher) standards for Range Rover styling - both exterior and interior – and dynamic capabilities. As well, JLR may choose to debut its petrol-electric hybrid technologies as a variant of this SUV-coupe.
Past the obvious changes in size, rear headroom, and terrain traversability, this Range Rover coupe would be most surprising on the inside, with a ‘cockpit’-style focus on the driver that echoes the sportier motif of the car.
In terms of powetrain options, there shoud be no shortage of petrol and diesel engines shared across Land Rover and Jaguar offering punch from four, six, or eight cylinders. In addition to the possibility of a hybrid, JLR could also have this Range Rover coupe share the all-electric drive unit from the Jaguar I-Pace EV, while an SVR variant could prove monstrously fast and shocking angile with a supercharged V8 engine shoehorned into its comparatively petite demensions over the full-size Range Rover.
