Geneva show: Range Rover Velar backs in

LAND ROVER has released the first official images of its new “avante garde” Range Rover Velar that it promises will “change everything”.

The company also confirmed that the Velar would “fill the white space” between the entry-level Evoque and Discovery-based Range Rover Sport when it arrives on the market this year.

By Land Rover standards, the Velar is being hastened to market, with full details – including Australian pricing and launch timing – set to be announced in London next week, ahead of the car’s official public launch at the Geneva motor show on March 7.

Seen only from the rear in the images released globally today, the Velar appears to have a familiar Range Rover family resemblance, if a little bit less boxy than others and with wider rear haunches for a more muscular appearance.

A fresh dashboard design with a wide touchscreen in the middle of the dash can be seen through a full-length panoramic sunroof.

Another image shows the new Porsche Macan competitor sitting in a line with its three Range Rover siblings to show its position in the four-model pecking order – taller and wider than Evoque and shorter and narrower than Sport.

Apart from formally confirming the Velar name that, as GoAuto reported recently, has already been trademarked for Australia, Land Rover revealed that Velar would employ advanced engineering, pioneering consumer technology, unique sustainable materials and would be engineered “for every occasion, every terrain”.

The latter suggests the Velar might have more off-road ability than the Evoque which is more car-like in its construction and powertrain than other Range Rovers with their low-range transfer cases and rugged suspension.

Like Range Rover Sport, the Velar reportedly will employ a longitudinally mounted powertrain, unlike the Evoque’s transverse arrangement. All Velars will be 4x4.

Design wise, the Velar’s styling is described as “elegant simplicity, a visually reductive approach”.

Says Land Rover chief design officer Gerry McGovern: “We call the Velar the avante garde Range Rover. It brings a new dimension of glamour, modernity and elegance to the brand. The Range Rover Velar changes everything.”

The name Velar – Latin for veil or cover – dates back to the 1960s when development engineers used the code name for Range Rover development mules to hide the true identity.

Velar is expected to be built on the same Jaguar Land Rover IQ platform as the Jaguar F-Pace with which it will share a production line at Solihull, in England’s Midlands.