There's been a lot of talk about the proposed Land Rover "Road Rover" project following the company's 2018 patent filing. Some say that the Road Rover will be a butch wagon, others suggest it could be a full-on luxury sedan. But the latest rumor suggests the Land Rover Road Rover will be a fully electric, direct shot at the upcoming EVs from Porsche and Audi.
The publication Autocar believes this will be Land Rover's "most road-focused model yet." Though, it will maintain key Land Rover qualities, like the ability to travel off road and all-wheel drive. Company documents say it will be a "medium SUV," meaning it will compete directly with the upcoming Macan EV and E-Tron Sportback and should sit between the Evoque and Velar size-wise.
Land Rover hasn't outright confirmed the Road Rover project, but we do know that the Modular Longitudinal Platform (MLA) will underpin both this upcoming electric Land Rover and the next-generation Jaguar XJ. The "skateboard" architecture will offer battery capacity of up to 90 kilowatt-hours with a range of around 290 miles of range. JLR will build those batteries in house, likely with help from BMW.
But the Road Rover project is just the cherry on top. Starting next year, every new product in the JLR portfolio will be electrified. Some will feature plug-in options, while others will go fully electric. That includes current Land Rover products like the entire Range Rover brand, Defender, and Discovery. Don't expect the Defender, though, to go fully electric.
We'll know more about the upcoming Road Rover (which could use an entirely different name) when it arrives sometime next year.
