Range Rover GT to target 80 per cent conquest buyers as luxury brand eyes market expansion

JLR is expecting the Range Rover GT to attract a whole new wave of customers, many of whom will be new to the British luxury carmaker, Range Rover’s boss has said.

The firm is expecting almost 80 per cent of buyers to be new to the brand, with the electric GT model taking the Range Rover name into a new luxury segment.

The new GT, only shown so far in camouflaged form along with a few interior pictures, will be the lowest and most car-like Range Rover the manufacturer has ever built.

As the name implies, it’ll be a sporting grand tourer – something that the Range Rover brand hasn’t traditionally been associated with.

Already-published images show a wide stance, a strong shoulder line and flowing coupe-like roof. It’s a firm departure from the boxy Range Rover original of 1970, and more in line with the Velar, which was first launched in 2017.

Land Rover has deliberately designed and engineered the car to stick to the Range Rover brand’s traditional luxury qualities, but also appeal to more customers who’ve never considered a Range Rover before.

The new GT is expected to add to JLR’s volumes, rather than cannibalise sales from existing models.

Speaking to the Press Association, Range Rover managing director Martin Limpert said: ‘With the Range Rover GT, we want to bring in a new family. But to be honest, not just another SUV.

‘It’s something that gives us a conquest opportunity, first of all. So we expect that almost 80 per cent of the Range Rover GT buyers will be new to the brand.’

He added: ‘It’s the lowest Range Rover ever. It’s the most car-like Range Rover.

‘In terms of proportions, it’s a true grand tourer, but at the same time, it does everything you expect of a Range Rover because it’s been tested like every other Range Rover.’

The GT will be the first model to use JLR’s new Electric Modular Architecture (EMA), and will be built at the carmaker’s Halewood factory on Merseyside, alongside the Range Rover Evoque and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

It will arrive as a fully-electric model, but the EMA platform has been designed to accept engines and hybrid power.

Limpert said the company expects the GT to define a new segment in the luxury car market.

‘There were a few magic moments in Range Rover’s history, where Range Rover managed to define or recreate a segment,’ adding: ‘We feel that the Range Rover GT is the next opportunity for us to create something that doesn’t exist like this.

‘There’s lots of grand tourers in the marketplace. But none of them can do what the Range Rover can do.’

Asked if the repositioning of Jaguar, which famously made low-to-the-ground sporting saloons and grand tourers, has allowed Range Rover to build the GT, Limpert replied: ‘Exactly, because each [JLR] brand (Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar) has now its own personality that moved further apart in terms of its positioning, and you’re right.’

He added: ‘That gives us more space to breathe within the Range Rover brand.’