Land Rover is joining the growing number of automakers climbing on the hybrid bandwagon with a new variant for their Range Rover Sport. Called the Range_e, this new hybrid prototype made its debut at the Geneva Motor Show this week and is the first Land Rover to go this route. The Range Rover Sport attracts the most customers from the widest demographic for Land Rover and thus gave them the best place to start in terms of marketing a hybrid vehicle to the public. Expect more models to debut in the future as gas prices rise and emissions standards are tightened – the only thing we are never going to see go hybrid is the legendary Defender.
Being able to engineer a vehicle with legendary Range Rover off-road capability and improved fuel economy is no small feat. A major issue for large hybrid SUVs is weight; lowering the curb weight of these vehicles often requires taking out vital parts of an off-roaders drive train such as the four-wheel drive components. Land Rover has decided to utilize a diesel-hybrid unit so that a small engine can still produce enough torque to get the heavy vehicle moving and give it enough muscle off-road.
It’s possible that previous ownership by Ford and BMW could have given Land Rover a jump start in the hybrid vehicle market with increased technical know-how, but these products will remain 100% Land Rover. John Edwards, Land Rover global brand director, said: "This system is the first example of a premium plug-in hybrid that also provides the full four-wheel-drive capability that you would expect from a Land Rover. It is an evolution of the production intent diesel-electric hybrid technology which will be launched in our next generation of SUVs and will be available for customers within the next two years."
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