Big changes are coming to Land Rover's Range Rover lineup beginning this fall. The flagship Range Rover will split into two body styles, the Range Rover Sport may gain a third row of seating, and the Range Rover Evoque could add an additional body style,Automobilereports.
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The first vehicle due for an update isthe flagship Range Rover- a vehicle Land Rover can't afford to screw up. The Range Rover has always been about go-anywhere luxury and comfort, and it's about to become that much more upscale when the next-generation model debuts at the Paris auto show in October. The 2014 Range Rover will be offered in a standard body style as well as a luxurious stretched variant. While the standard Range Rover will seat five, the six-inch-longer version will seat just four, allowing the Range Rover to go head-to-head with upcoming luxury SUVs from Bentley and Maserati. Styling will reportedly be evolutionary, and the interior is expected to be plusher than before - especially on long wheelbase models upgraded with interior touches from the current Range Rover Autobiography series.
At launch, the next-generation Range Rover will be powered by the 5.0-liter supercharged 510-hp V-8 found in the current Range Rover. An eight-speed automatic transmission, air suspension, and terrain response are the other goodies that will carry over to the new model. New to the 2014 Range Rover will be an electro-hydraulic steering rack. A 408-hp supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 is expected to join the Range Rover soon after launch, with a plug-in hybrid version utilizing a V-6 and two 55-hp electric motors joining the range within a couple years.
The2014 Range Rover Sportwill finally share its architecture with its big brother, as it'll also be built on the new Premium Lightweight Architecture chassis, which is reportedly lighter and stiffer than Audi's aluminum space frame. The 2014 Range Rover Sport will be more aggressive, aerodynamic, and a greater threat to super SUV rivals from Porsche and BMW. The new Range Rover Sport will reportedly be available with three rows of seating, though the third row will be useful only for kids. Expect supercharged V-6 and V-8 offerings under the hood of the 2014 Range Rover Sport.
The last model Land Rover is considering for its Range Rover lineup is far from set in stone -another Range Rover Evoque variant. Though the possibility of an Evoque Convertible is still strong, Land Rover management is reportedly considering a long wheelbase, seven-seat version of the four-door Evoque. What's holding Land Rover back? The 2014 Land RoverLR2, which will also reportedly be offered with seven seats. Land Rover's management is still trying to work out whether it'd be beneficial to offer seven-seat variants of their compact crossover vehicles. If a long-wheelbase Evoque gets the OK, it likely won't show up until 2015 or 2016.
Do you like the idea of a stretched-wheelbase Range Rover? What about a seven-seat Range Rover Sport and Evoque?
Spy shots of the 2014 Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, in addition to the current lineup and the Evoque Convertible concept are pictured below.
Source: Automobile
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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