Range Rover previews electric GT as its first non-SUV model
The camouflaged grand tourer will launch as a battery EV on JLR’s new EMA platform, with a hybrid version planned later.
By James Whitfield · Staff Writer
3 min read
Range Rover is preparing its first model outside the SUV category, a grand tourer called the Range Rover GT. The move matters because the brand, long tied to luxury SUVs, is using the car to introduce Jaguar Land Rover’s new EMA platform.
Range Rover has not shown the GT without camouflage, according to Ars Technica, but the latest preview reveals a lower, more car-like shape than earlier development vehicles. Spy photos of disguised prototypes had circulated for at least a year, and some reports had treated them as an electric successor to the Range Rover Velar.
Those prototypes were instead Range Rover GT test cars, Ars Technica reported, with sightings including testing at the Nürburgring and in the Arctic Circle. The newer images show a vehicle that remains covered but is less heavily disguised than the boxier test cars previously seen.
New platform, electric launch
Range Rover says the GT will be the first Jaguar Land Rover vehicle built on EMA, a flexible architecture designed to support multiple powertrains. The company says the GT will arrive first as a full battery-electric vehicle, with a hybrid EV version planned after that.
EMA is JLR’s third electrifiable vehicle platform, according to Ars Technica. The others are MLA, which underpins Range Rover models, and JEA, the platform Jaguar is developing for its coming Type 01.
Like the Range Rover GT, Jaguar’s Type 01 is described as a four-door grand tourer, Ars Technica reported. That Jaguar model is expected to debut later this year.
Martin Limpert, managing director of Range Rover, said the company had spent several years developing what it sees as a Range Rover version of a grand tourer. In a company statement, Limpert described the GT as the brand’s “most car-like” model while saying it would keep Range Rover traits such as electric performance, long-distance refinement and all-terrain ability.
Cabin moves away from SUV formula
Range Rover showed the GT’s interior to Ars Technica, which reported that the cabin marks a clear break from the company’s SUV interiors. The design is described as ultraminimalist at first glance, while still retaining physical controls for functions required by safety regulators in Europe and other markets.
Ars Technica reported that Range Rover’s designers did not add a third screen for the front passenger. The GT instead uses an OLED instrument display and an OLED infotainment touchscreen, and Range Rover has made a head-up display standard on the model.
The rear compartment can be configured either with two individual seats or with a three-seat bench, according to Range Rover images described by Ars Technica. The cabin also uses a mix of textiles and other materials, though Range Rover has not yet released full specifications.
Range Rover is expected to release more details later this year, including the GT’s final exterior design without camouflage. The company has not yet disclosed pricing, range, output or launch timing beyond the initial electric version and the planned hybrid EV variant.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.