With a full reveal expected to be just months away, Land Rover engineers are entering an advanced stage of development for the fifth-generation Range Rover, and our photographers have captured a prototype of the plug-in hybrid variant on public roads.
It’s the latest in a series of sightings of Britain’s reinvented flagship, following recent glimpses of the standard SUV, the lower-slung Range Rover Sport and the top-rung long-wheelbase model. Here, mandatory stickers and a just-visible charging port give the test mule’s electrified powertrain away. Otherwise, like the current Range Rover P400e, it looks like the PHEV will be completely identical to its ICE sibling.
The new Range Rover will play a vital role in facilitating Jaguar Land Rover's recovery from the pandemic and chip shortage, and its new MLA platform, which will go on to underpin a number of other models in Land Rover's lineup, will be a cornerstone of the marque’s push towards full electrification.
The plug-in hybrid spotted here is likely to use an evolved version of the current P400e model’s gas-electric setup, which mates an Ingenium 2.0L turbo four with a 143hp electric motor and a 17.1-kWh battery for around 30 miles of range. However, a more-potent PHEV option with two electric motors is in the cards, no doubt with superior off-road ability courtesy of a boost in low-end torque.
Elsewhere in the lineup, we are expecting to see the Range Rover retain its 48-V mild-hybridized Ingenium 3.0L straight six, while the range-topping model will use technical partner BMW’s 4.4L twin-turbocharged V8 with upwards of 500 hp.
Photo credit: Brian Williams, SpiedBilde