The EV Question

Undergirding that trust, Hoonik said, is a commitment to principles. JLR brands have to be “unmistakably British,” and their products have to be true to their roots. “The electric Range Rover has to be a Range Rover first,” he said. “All those principles and driving sensations that make a Range Rover. Even if you have your eyes closed, it shouldn’t matter if it’s a V-8 or an EV or an I-6. It must be a true Range Rover.”

It’s not easy, he stressed. In order to be a true Range Rover, he said, the EV has to do everything the current cars already do. It has to withstand extreme heat and cold, ford deep water crossings, and be just as capable off-road as ever. “To keep that discipline, that strategy,” he said, “is hard but our engineers are doing it.”

Ingham concurs: “Capability is our core DNA, and customers really do care about capability.” Even so, she also admits luxury and refinement count more for Range Rover customers than off-road prowess alone. Still, there is a baseline every model must meet, and from there the brand will lean on the Special Vehicles (SV) division to amplify either the luxury side or the off-road side depending on the specific model.

Pulling that off in an EV will require more patents than any previous Land Rover product, she added. Will it be enough to convinced loyal customers? She isn’t worried. Ingham claims there’s been no pushback in separating Range Rover from Land Rover, and while EVs are still catching on, the brand has already booked 42,000 reservations for a Range Rover EV no one has seen yet.

More Personalization, And Maybe More Buttons

You’ll still be able to customize your Range Rover no matter what’s under the hood, Ingham says. Personalization is big with Range Rover buyers and big business for the brand, as are globally available special editions and even custom models for individual markets. JLR executives have said in the past they haven’t found an upper bounds on pricing, and Ingham says that’s still true.