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In 1970, the world opened a door.
An era of breaking with tradition and confinement has arrived, and society's tolerance for cultural diversity has opened up.
Range Rover was born in 1970 along with this diverse world.
In June of that year, it was tested in a series of mountain climbs and other sections of the Cornwall Eco Theme Park in the United Kingdom, and made its debut. During the same period it had few opponents.
The media praised it this way: "If the rubble and asphalt are now mixed together so that we can firmly step on the dust under our feet and bring the stones together, we must invent the Range Rover." It was born for two purposes: the on-road environment and the off-road environment. It can accomplish both missions almost completely. ”
At that time, the enthusiasm for luxury SUVs in the market was getting higher and higher, but the Range Rover surprised them.
The Guardian at the time wrote: "They had hoped to buy a car that drove like they were wearing rubber boots or urban casual flats, but when they bought them, they felt a bit like wearing a pair of carved flat brogues." ”
This generation of Range Rover is also the longest-lived version of the Range Rover family to date, having been in production for 26 years before terminating in 1996.
Compared with the frequency of the general German models once every seven or eight years and the Japanese models once every four or five years, the replacement cycle of the Range Rover is basically more than ten years. I have friends who joke that buying a Land Rover is a very cost-effective thing, because you will not feel outdated after many years of driving on the road.
Perhaps it is precisely because the Range Rover is so classic, its appearance and each generation change, not to follow anything, but to constantly transform for the way they pursue. To this end, many Land Rover fans are looking forward to its every replacement.
On 21 April, the new generation of Range Rover (fifth generation) was launched.
What kind of Range Rover do we want for a generation?
"Every time the answer is the same, I just want the Range Rover, a better Range Rover." Richard Shore, president of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover Joint Marketing Sales and Service, said, "So, we are also going in this direction. ”
Designing a high-end model is a complicated process in itself, but if you're designing one of the most iconic models of all time, the Range Rover, the difficulty is growing geometrically.
Professor Jere Seol, Jaguar Land Rover's Global Chief Creative Officer, Professor D'Or, is tasked with reinventing the glory of classic models in the automotive industry. I remember when the previous generation of Range Rover went public, he disagreed in interviews about "redesigning a logo model."
He argues that the term identity is overused. In fact, iconic models are not designed, but gradually accumulated.
True classics will grow over time and have to prove that they are excellent in some respects to reach the benchmark. The Range Rover has reached this point after decades of grinding, it is unique, unlike anyone.
So, the real challenge in designing the new Generation Range Rover is how you can grasp its essence and sublimate it further.
I think this is still what Jeremy and the engineering and design teams behind him have been striving for over the past decade.
Some people will feel that the new generation of Range Rover's styling is not a revolutionary change. For example, there are several essential designs on it that must be retained: the suspended roof, the mussel-shelled engine canopy, and three longitudinal lines that run through it, all of which are expected.
But it also clearly shows a sense of modernity, an extreme simplicity and cleanliness. For example, unnecessary seams are all removed, giving people the feeling of a visual effect of a sludge model, just carved out but not yet depicted gaps.
"At the junction of the door and the glass, we didn't use a seal, we used advanced technology such as laser welding. This technology makes the glass larger and the body shoulder line more visually impactful. Li Dalong said that this is also one of his favorite design details.
The biggest change in the new car is in the rear, which is still a minimalist design language, the presence of the taillights is weakened, and only the light groups in the family language are retained as "vertical arrangement". Although this rear of the car is very controversial, it has to be said that the sense of the future revealed is very strong, you can't even tell whether it is a fuel car or an electric car, I think this is also a foreshadowing for the pure electric version of the Range Rover after it.
Minimalism emphasizes objectivity, calmness and pure vision to express aesthetics, which is in line with the rational way of thinking of the British. This is also routinely used in the interior. Open the car and your attention will definitely focus on the 13.1-inch central control screen, which adopts a borderless curved suspension design, not embedded in the center console, but hanging on the "wall" like a slim TV set at home.
This new generation of Range Rover has brought some surprises.
First, who would have thought that it would launch a Shengshi seven-seat extended version, but also an entry-level model, priced at 1.468 million, which is the lowest price of the four long-axis models that were first released. On the night of the launch, I recommended it to a friend of mine who had been driving the previous generation Range Rover for years and had never thought of another product to replace it, and the 7-seat range Rover was undoubtedly an easter egg for him with two children.
This is the first time in more than fifty years that Range Rover has offered a seven-seat layout option, and it has also designed the functional layout of the third row and tailgate. In the third row of full-size electrically adjustable and foldable seats, adults of any size can enjoy the most comfortable stretch, and the third row has separate zone air conditioning, speakers and heating.
This is equivalent to copying the experience of the second row unchanged to the third row.
"In the U.S. and Middle East markets, the Range Rover seven-seater model is very popular. I believe it can also attract a lot of new customers in China, especially those with more members. Li Dalong said.
In fact, it is not difficult for you to understand. Whether in China or the United States, there are two related trends: one is the growing affluent population; the other is that there are more and more big cities, and people are becoming more and more urbanized. Under such a trend, people's requirements for SUV luxury are gradually increasing.
This is why today, more and more consumers want an SUV that combines all the advantages, which means that the SUV they want can play many roles. For example, you'll see an SUV that can circle faster on the track than a sports car, and you'll see an SUV with an interior that can be more material-oriented than many luxury cars. You'll also see an SUV that can be transformed into a more flexible space than an MPV.
Li Dalong said: "Traditionally, the sales ratio of Range Rover models is: 80% of the long wheelbase and 20% of the standard wheelbase. We expect that seven-seater models could account for between 15% and 20% of sales of the new generation of Range Rover long-wheelbase models. ”
Consumer demand is indeed strong. It should be known that the new generation of Range Rover has sold more than 40,000 units worldwide, and the order library in each market has accumulated to 6 months of orders. In the Chinese market, there were already 1500 orders in just 2 months during the pre-sale phase.
The second surprise: it features Land Rover's new MLA-Flex luxury electrified architecture. This platform is a very important production platform in land rover's strategy for the next decade, and it can support a wide range of power options such as gasoline, diesel, hybrid and pure electric. That means the Range Rover will be Land Rover's first all-electric model, but it will come a little later, and the Range Rover EV version is expected to be released in 2024.
Before it, the new generation of Range Rover's standard wheelbase models, SV models and plug-in hybrid models will soon arrive in the Chinese market.
In addition, in the selection of engines, all three models except the top-mounted model are equipped with a 3.0T turbo-electric double-supercharged straight-six engine with the designation PT306, with a maximum power of 400 horsepower. The 4.4-liter V8 twin-turbo engine is the first version of the model, which was only released at the beginning of the market, with a maximum power of 530 horsepower, a peak torque of 750 Nm, and a dynamic start mode in which 0-100 km/h acceleration takes only 4.7 seconds.
Other details about this generation of better Range Rover, Li Dalong counts the family treasures:
For example, innovative noise-cancelling technology creates a quiet cockpit, a 50% increase in body strength, a four-wheel steering system as standard throughout the series and a 7-degree angle at the rear wheels, and the powerful performance of ATRS Land Rover all-terrain technology. The new generation range Rover has a maximum wading depth of 900 mm and a maximum climbing angle of 45 degrees.
Between the compromise of urbanization and the insistence on the spirit of off-road, in the balance between popularity and aristocratic temperament, I always feel that range rover is the one that does a great job.
Even though more than fifty years later, I think it's worthy of the slogan it advertised when the first Range Rover came out. The saying goes like this: "There is no reason not to use a car".