By Miles Downard
The Geneva motor show kicks off shortly in Switzerland and with it always comes a flurry of new model announcements from the full array of manufacturers. One that particularly caught my eye was from Range Rover. It’s called the Velar (pronounced vel-ar), a name derived from the original RR prototypes back in the 60s, and fits neatly between the Evoque and Range Rover Sport.
As manufacturer’s tend to do, Range Rover discovered some ‘white space’ in the lineup (read niche space) and just had to fill it as soon as possible no doubt in fear of losing a customer or two. At this stage RR has only given us two images of the Velar but it’s enough to see that the vehicle shape fits the mould of the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupe.
Read also: Range Rover Evoque: Is it actually a 4×4?
It’s been built to tackle many different types of terrain, well according to Range Rover anyway (it’s likely to only ever see tarmac) and uses sustainable materials and advanced engineering to achieve the goal. Can’t see much of that from the images of course, but what you can tell is that it has a very nice glass roof and what looks like a big touch screen infotainment system.
No indication of engines in the early announcement but expect Jaguar, Land Rover’s Ingenium range of motors, comprising four- and six-cylinder units with turbos and superchargers. Down the line we might even see a Velar sporting a V8 – or perhaps even more special would be something tinkered with by JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) unit.
Of course pricing, and a local introduction, are both a long way off. However I’m sure if you draw a line down the middle of everything that the Evoque and RR Sport offer and cost respectively, you’ll be pretty close. I can hear the Sandton mommies yearning already.
