British SUV brand Range Rover is looking to further stretch the appeal of its brand, and it is considering a more car-like design for future product types, according to Land Rover and Range Rover head of design Gerry McGovern in a Car Advice report.
“If you look at how other brands have come into this SUV territory, why couldn’t Land Rover, Range Rover go into that (passenger car) territory? The thing about Range Rover is, it has massive brand equity. It has equity comparable to certain fashion brands, not because it’s fashionable but because of the margin,” said McGovern.
Porsche, once solely represented by sports cars, diversified its product range and significantly increased profits with the introduction of SUVs, the Cayenne and the Macan, along with the Panamera.
“I’d argue that RR as a brand is peerless, there is nothing else like it, and we’ve proven with things like the Evoque and we will prove with the next car, the Velar, that we have the ability to stretch and have much greater resonance in the marketplace, so I think there are lots of opportunities,” he added.
Designers have to be proactive and tap into potential market opportunities based on future trends and where the market is going, according to McGovern. “We have got a specific DNA which has evolved over the years and its about taking that DNA and those ingredients and cooking them up in a way that is absolutely relevant,” he said.
All the vehicles that we create now need to sell a certain volume so we can get that investment back and reinvest it in the future. We are never going to be about massive volume but we need to get to critical mass so we can sustain ourselves,” McGovern added.
“Let’s say that the SUV market, generic term SUV, it is fragmenting, it’s proliferating, we are seeing lots of different types of niche products coming off it. And part of the job that we have in design is not to sit there for the market planners to come to us, we define the opportunities of the business,” McGovern explained.
It would appear to be a natural step for the brand, considering that it has evolved from the sole eponymous luxury off-roader to a three-model line-up, with a fourth to come in the form of the Velar. What do you think of Range Rover’s intended design direction? Sedans and shooting brakes, anyone?
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when RR going into that that (passenger car) territory, will they retain their off road capability?
It is time a British marque come up with something to resurrect the Rover 75.
That’s what the Rovers were for!! Now China owns the right to that name, event though they sell the cars as Roewe. Who’s fault is that??
sumthin like an audi allroad…
with scalable platform % component sharing , its easier these days to produce niche products
As usual, Land Rover is the latest brand to jump into the ‘sustainability’ bandwagon and dilute its uniqueness. Not shocking at all.
there was a brand. it was called plainly “Rover”. it failed miserably.
Its weird to see they put velar in between evoque and rr sport. Dont forget the new disco also in that segment too.
If I were the product planner, I’ll make velar much smaller and compete with merc GLA, Q3 or X1