Electric Range Rover expected to arrive in 2024

LONDON -- Land Rover's first full-electric vehicle is expected to be a battery-powered version of the new Range Rover.

It will be followed by five full-electric Land Rover and Range Rover variants.

Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore outlined how the UK automaker will electrify its models during an online presentation of his business strategy for the company on Feb. 15.

He said Jaguar will sell only full-electric cars starting in 2025, dropping gasoline and diesel engine models in a big shift for the brand, which currently has one full- electric vehicle, the Jaguar I-Pace SUV.

Unlike Jaguar, Land Rover will not entirely switch to becoming an electric-only brand in the near or midterm. It will phase out diesels and  sell pure EVs and plug-in hybrid models with gasoline engines.

Land Rover's first full-electric model will go on sale in 2024, Bollore said, without saying which vehicle it would be. UK motoring press reports said it would be the Range Rover. JLR declined to confirm the reports to Automotive News Europe.

Bollore confirmed that there will be a Range Rover EV while answering questions during the strategy presentation without giving a launch date. "We have many projects. I can tell you our activities are extremely intense," he said.

JLR will sell "almost zero" internal combustion engine cars by 2036 as it moves to become a zero-carbon company by 2039, Bollore said.

The fifth-generation Range Rover will be unveiled as a combustion engine model with hybrid technology later this year. It will be a key launch for Jaguar Land Rover because of the current model's profitability.

Bollore said the new version will showcase a new direction for Land Rover. "The new Range Rover is incredible proof of modern luxury by design from JLR," he said during the strategy presentation.

Electrification "will not compromise" the SUV brand's off-road performance, Bollore said.

JLR head of design Gerry McGovern described the new Range Rover as being "breathtaking in its modernity," in an interview with Automotive News last year.

"The current generation moved the game on significantly and this next one will, too," he said. "This car will communicate a level of emotional connection I don't think we've seen before. It's going to be jaw-dropping in a very, very sophisticated way."

The Range Rover and slightly smaller Range Rover Sport will switch to JLR's new Modular Longitudinal Architecture. The platform allows full-electric as well as plug-in-hybrid and mild-hybrid drivetrains, and will eventually be used on all of Land Rover's bigger vehicles.

The electric Range Rover will compete with large luxury EVs such as a new full-electric Bentley model due in 2025, which will be built alongside with Audi and Porsche siblings in Germany and is expected to have a crossover design..

It will also rival future versions of the Tesla Model X, if Tesla decides to update the model, as well as the forthcoming electric Hummer and the Cadillac Lyric in the U.S.

A full- electric Range Rover would likely cost more than the current plug-in hybrid version which sells for 124,600 euros ($151,400) in Germany.