JLR bosses on target to deliver 'quietest and most refined' Range Rover ever created – with the West Midlands at the heart of it

The waiting list has been opened for the new Range Rover Electric, ahead of formal orders opening to clients.

It will be designed, engineered and built on the flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) in Solihull, alongside existing mild and plug-in hybrid Range Rover vehicles.

And, for the first time, batteries and EDUs will be built and assembled at JLR’s new Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre in Wolverhampton as Range Rover electrifies ahead of its 2039 net-zero carbon ambition.

Prototypes are now being subjected to one of the most rigorous engineering sign-off programmes ever – to confirm capability spanning extreme temperatures, all conditions and every terrain – and of course wading through up to 850mm deep water.

Thomas Müller, Executive Director, Product Engineering at JLR said: “We are on target to create the quietest and most refined Range Rover ever created.

“The magic ingredients that underpin the success of Range Rover remain unchanged: timeless, reductionist design, a serene cabin and go-anywhere capability – but now offered with zero tailpipe emissions.

“And as repeated throughout history, the Range Rover will continue to set the standard. The first of its type. An electric luxury SUV that can deliver on the Range Rover promise. A true global luxury product, as yet unseen in the industry.

“Created in the heart of the UK, the Range Rover Electric will slot into the range alongside its mild hybrid and plug-in electric hybrid siblings, offering a breadth of options to meet our clients’ needs.”

Geraldine Ingham, Managing Director, Range Rover, added: “Since going on sale in 2021 the latest generation Range Rover has set a new benchmark for desirability. Across the globe, we’re seeing the highest levels of client demand in our 53-year history.

“As a result of this unprecedented success story, we’re now opening the official waiting list for the opportunity to be among the first to place a pre-order for the most anticipated Range Rover of recent times.”

Range Rover Electric will, bosses say, deliver performance comparable to a flagship Range Rover V8 and the all-terrain capability developed in-house by Land Rover experts that has been a hallmark since Range Rover’s inception in 1970.

Physical prototype testing is under way, as engineers target the most refined Range Rover ever created, with a unique active road noise cancellation configuration, sound design and level of cabin comfort.

After a year of virtual development spanning front-end robustness, multi-body systems analysis that considers the demand on the chassis, and virtual wading at up to 50km/h, the first physical vehicles have been built.

Global on-road testing has started, from Sweden to Dubai, in temperatures ranging from -40C to +50C. The global physical testing programme has been adapted for Range Rover’s first fully electric vehicle to ensure robustness of the electric drive system, including its underfloor, battery durability, chassis integrity and vehicle dynamics tests for thermal derating.