Land Rover had already established its three pillars of support decades ago-- the no-nonsense Defender, the practical Discovery (LR4), and the premium luxury Range Rover flagship. Now, Land Rover is looking to expand upon its fundamentals and create a whole new line-up of up to 16 new models under the categories: leisure, utility, and luxury.
According to Autocar during an interview with Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern, the new Land Rover project will extend as long as 2020 and will feature multiple new models that represent each of the three categories. First, the utility category will feature approximately five new models that will be based on the highly anticipated next-generation Defender SUV which is scheduled to launch in 2015. The least expensive offerings in the model portfolio, utility models will apply design cues taken from the well received DC100 concept and will include various models including five-seat, seven-seat, and even pickup truck variants.
Next, the leisure category will focus on the next-generation Land Rover LR2 and LR4. The LR2 may offer a compact version along with a five- and seven-seat version as well. In addition, Land Rover will redesign the LR4, an important model slated to compete with BMW X5 and the Mercedes-Benz M Class crossover.
Finally, Land Rover will be upping its luxury ante for its last category. The Range Rover portfolio will feature avant garde vehicles including the stunning Range Rover Evoque small premium crossover to the top-of-the-line long-wheelbase Range Rover SUV. A rumored convertible Evoque model will likely be confirmed for select markets as well.
According to Land Rover, the British automaker's ability to handle the ambitious model expansion will come down to the optimization of modular platform sharing that will be a process combined with sister brand Jaguar.
While there are currently a total of seven separate platforms between Jaguar and Land Rover, parent company Tata aims for three next-generation platforms that can effectively accomodate all the available core models in the future Jaguar Land Rover range. Once this new project is implemented, designers can better create vehicles with unique attributes around existing platforms with newfound flexibility.
What's more, modular platforms will increase production efficiency while minimizing cost at the same time, allowing customers to have access to quality vehicles at a lower price point. As the global demand for SUVs and crossovers are expected to rise year over year, Land Rover's clever new plan may by just the thing that will catapult the company into a global leader of premium SUVs and crossovers.
