Preview: Fourth Generation Land Rover
Land Rover has not given the Range Rover any significant update in ten years. This will change when the next generation is launched later this year. The current generation Range Rover (codenamed L322) is in its third generation. The current Range Rover was developed during the BMW regime (BMW owned Land Rover between 1995 to 2001.) The next generation Range Rover has been codenamed L405 and is based on an all new D4u platform, developed during Tata’s ownership. This exclusive preview is based on information received from JLR executives.
Land Rover’s D4u platform will be used in at least 6 other vehicles from the Land Rover stable. The D4u platform has many benefits, the biggest being its weight. The D4u platform uses high tensile steel and a high quantity of aluminum. The monocoque platform is 25 mm longer than the current Range Rover and offers significant weight advantages. The 2013 Range Rover will weigh at least 500 kgs less than the outgoing model, which tips the scale at 2500 kgs. The wheelbase is bigger too. The D4u platform enables Land Rover to push the wheels to the extremities of the vehicle, resulting in significant increase in interior room.
Land Rover has been involved in many controversies lately, with environmentalist protesting against the gas guzzling tendencies of its SUVs. Tata Motors wants to address this issue. The next generation Range Rover is not only lighter (thanks to the new D4u platform) but also features more fuel efficient engines. The engines on offer will include an updated 4.4-litre V8 diesel, 5.0-litre V8 gasoline (including a supercharged version of this motor) and a V6 gasoline. Land Rover is also working on a V6 diesel engine for the Range Rover, which will give it stellar economy. A hybrid is also on the cards for a early 2014 launch.
The general shape of the fourth generation Range Rover will remain the same as the current model. Tata does not want to mess with the trademark look. The 2013 Range Rover will be slightly wider and longer with the head and tail lights getting influenced by the Evoque. The renderings made by MotorBeam rendering specialist Zaid Muhammed truthfully reflect what we had seen during our interview. The interiors will remain more or less the same with slight changes/tweaks being made to the dashboard. The design of the exteriors has been frozen as we speak, the interior is yet to be finalized. A long wheel base version of the Range Rover is being worked on for the Chinese market (just like the XJ is offered in XJL trim).
The next generation Range Rover will feature active pedestrian safety. In case of a collision, the hood will pop up taking the impact thus reducing injuries to the pedestrians.
Faisal Ali Khan is the owner/operator of MotorBeam.com, a website covering the auto industry of India.
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This should give sales a shot in the arm. I'd expect that they've been slumping. After all, who wants to drop six figures on a model that looks the same as a ten-year old one you can find in a local BHPH lot?
Perhaps I'm taking faith in the "eat your own dogfood" mantra too far; but offroad/shittyroad vehicle design decisions ultimately made by denizens of the the world's most Uber British upper class, stuck driving on some of the shittiest roads on the planet, ought to make for a better Range Rover. The current one's most obvious shortcoming of road (except for it's inability to actually make it far enough from the repair shop to ever see any off road action), is it's enormous rear overhang, and subsequent 60s Cadillac departure angle. Going the Wrangler Limited route, and lengthening the wheelbase, should go some ways towards alleviating that. Nothing more embarrassing than running over a cow, and then having your Range Rover's rear bumper hung up on the carcass as you're trying to make a quick getaway and all......