A few months ago, rumors emerged that Land Rover was looking to build a non-SUV vehicle. pulling the Road Rover name for early Range Rover prototypes out of the history books. Now more rumors are coming out about the coming vehicle, and even though they are still rumors, the past few years' rumors about Land Rover have proven pretty accurate.
Original gossip indicated that the Road Rover might be a regular sedan, along the lines of the Jaguar XJ. Now, as things develop in the background, it seems like that is both right and wrong.
This would mark Rover's second foray into the sedan market, after its parent company, the Rover Group's, collaboration with Honda in the mid-'80s through 90's on the Rover 800 Series or "Sterling" sedan line here in the States.
With sales lagging, the iconic, long-lived Jaguar XJ may become an electric-only sedan in the next generation, complementing the new all-electric Jaguar I-Pace SUV. This new electric platform would then create the base for the Road Rover line, which would be an electric-only range of offerings.
Instead of being a lifted sedan, it now looks like the Road Rover may be more of a lifted station wagon, along the lines of the Volvo Cross Country wagons. The usual Land Rover design cues would transfer over, and the vehicle would align itself more with the Range Rover line, possibly taking some variant of the Range Rover name. (Hopefully not "Land Rover Range Rover Road Rover.")
The electric-only line would align more with the idea of a road-focused vehicle, though like any Land Rover product, it will still be at the top of its class, the degree to which that applies, for off-road capability. It would probably have a higher stance than a Mercedes-Benz or non-Cross Country Volvo wagon. There will be two electric motors, which would combine to create an all wheel drive vehicle with around a 300-mile range.
The Road Rover name traces back to a very early Range Rover prototype, an attempt to create a more civilized, road-focused version of the Series Land Rover; in some ways, you could consider it an early example of the concept of a crossover.
This is all rumors, but in the past few years the rumor mill has been pretty accurate, and the Road Rover concept has been discussed for several months now. It could end up being pretty lucrative for Land Rover, tapping into new markets.
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