The SUV is about to move upmarket and Range Rover is preparing to go with it, with the brand looking at ways to move its iconic off-roader beyond the $200,000 mark.
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With luxury brands Lamborghini, Maserati and Bentley confirming they will follow Porsche's lead by moving away from their core business into off-roaders, Range Rover sees an opportunity to introduce a new range topper.
The company's design director, Gerry McGovern, says there is room for an “uber-SUV” positioned above the most expensive Range Rover, which costs about $320,000 in Australia.
“We're preoccupied with it,” he says.
He says there is an opportunity to provide bespoke interior designs to select customers for a premium.
“There is the chance to take Range Rover right up there. It's about the execution.
“People have said to me 'are you worried about Bentley?', but if anything it just sharpens our game. We've got all the prerequisites to be in that sector of the market and I think if we can build the right type of vehicle we can get that sort of price for it. It is a desire to create what I'd call an 'uber Range Rover' which is totally bespoke.”
The global operations director for the global Jaguar Land Rover group, Phil Popham, says the new Range Rover, which makes its local debut at this week's Australian International Motor Show, provides the perfect opportunity to move the brand into the upper echelons of the luxury market.
“Clearly with this new vehicle, this new architecture, we have the chance to expand the price range,” he says. But the key would be providing real value for the extra spend.
“The Range Rover customer is not stupid. They are high achievers, affluent and successful and they will pay more if you can give them substance.”
Popham welcomes the arrival of Lamborghini and Bentley into the segment.
"Yes there are people who might try those brands who own Range Rovers, but generally it is expanding the luxury and uber-luxury SUV market, which has to be beneficial to the benchmark vehicle in that segment."
And he says the maker could also confront Lamborghini and Porsche on their home turf with performance versions of the Range Rover and Evoque.
“Range Rover Sport obviously set the standard of what an SUV could do from our point of view," he says.
“I do think there is potential to take it further in terms of its sports credentials."
He believes the new Range Rover's lightweight body shell will lend itself to a sportier, better performing vehicle. There is also the potential to alter the ride height for on- and off-road applications, improving cornering ability on the bitumen.
“But we've got to balance that with regulations and customer expectations in terms of sustainability, fuel efficiency, etcetera.
“We recognise that there is a segment there. It's something that we will look at. We don't have plans to do an overtly sporty, Cayenne-style vehicle at the moment but the new architecture does give us opportunities in that regard.”
He also said the job of taking on the Italian and German brands with a sporty SUV could ultimately fall to the Jaguar brand.
“That is something we would look at but it would have to be true to the DNA of the brand."
Jaguar designer Ian Callum says the brand can't ignore the explosion of demand for SUVs.
“The world is SUV-mad,” he says.
“We'd be daft not to look at it and see where it takes us.”
With 2012 poised to be a record year for Land Rover sales, the British brand is embarking on an aggressive expansion plan that will include 14 new products across the Jaguar-Land Rover group in the next five years.
“We do want to be a significant player in the global premium market. We have no aspirations to be a volume manufacturer – that's not our expertise, that's not our experience, not our forte – but we do want to be one of the big four rather than one of the big three that are talked about,” he says.
“I'm not saying we'll do a sedan but you'd be surprised what we can do. Watch this space."
