Land Rover Teases 2025 Range Rover EV, Will Share Design With ICE Model

by Carl Malek | April 23, 2024

Land Rover’s first ever EV model will use familiar design DNA to try and win over customers in the growing electric SUV segment.

The venerable Land Rover Range Rover has always been known for offering customers a wide range of powertrain choices during its half-century of production. While V8s have always been the most popular option for buyers, the company knows that electrification will eventually play a prominent role in future iterations of the model with the PHEV version providing a glimpse into Land Rover’s green ambitions.

The one missing flavor of performance has always been a pure EV model with the company preferring to keep details about such a model closely guarded by a veil of secrecy. That’s changing though, with the company releasing the first teaser images of the upcoming EV variant ahead of its debut at the 2024 Auto China Show in Beijing, China.

Range Rover EV maintains strong family link

The first thing that you might notice about Land Rover’s batch of snowy teaser images is that the model is devoid of camouflage and that’s because there’s nothing to hide with the EV version using the same design language as its ICE-powered cousins. This strategy is also being employed by the newly electrified Mercedes-Benz G-Class and is an attempt to help customers feel comfortable enough to make the switch to EVs by offering it in a familiar package.

That means you get the same front-end design and familiar-looking headlights but the front grille is replaced by a grille panel that has the same slat design as the ICE model. The side and rear profiles of the SUV also maintain this strong link and other than badging and special center caps for the wheels that have “EV” script on them, you wouldn’t notice much of a difference at first glance. Land Rover didn’t release any images of the interior but look for it to follow suit in offering customers the same luxury experience as the ICE model.

Range Rover EV is whisper quiet even in extreme conditions

Land Rover says that the Range Rover EV is the quietest Range Rover ever offered and the location choice for its initial photo shoot is not just for show either with the company not only subjecting the model to extreme heat testing in the Middle East, but also cold weather testing in the Arctic Circle with the EV enduring temperatures as low as –40 degrees Fahrenheit.

Land Rover wasn’t ready to reveal what’s exactly going on under the skin when it comes to its EV powertrain, but with the most powerful version of the 4.4-liter BMW-sourced turbocharged V8 making 523-hp, it’s a safe bet to assume that this EV is making over 500 hp to help the EV maintain its balance of performance and capabilities.

However, the company did say that the SUV will benefit from a new traction control system that has the ability to deliver wheel slip management to each electric drive unit. This ability helps the system manage these changes in as low as 1 millisecond which is an improvement from the 100 milliseconds needed by a traditional traction control system to achieve the same feat.

Range Rover EV to spearhead renewed EV push

When the Range Rover EV eventually makes its way to dealerships, it will help spearhead a renewed push by Land Rover and its sister brand Jaguar into the broader EV segment. This Range Rover will be the second EV model for the brand and will follow on the heels of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace which was released back in 2018.

However, the I-Pace has been a poor seller for JLR in certain markets, with the EV having a lukewarm reception in the important U.S. market where dealers we spoke to say it’s still languishing in dealer inventories despite a suite of updates the model received recently.

The Range Rover EV is hoping to avoid a similar fate and it appears that adopting styling that’s familiar with customers and a potential trim ladder that also mirrors the ICE version will be pivotal steps in making sure that does not happen. Look for pricing to be announced later, with the EV most likely commanding a sizable premium over a comparable ICE-powered model.