Jaguar Land Rover is on a company- wide drive to increase sales. For the 2013 model year Jaguar has slashed prices, introduced a new base model V-6 engine, and added the an optional all-wheel drive system. Land Rover recently introduced the 4 cylinder front wheel drive Evoque. Next year the new Range Rover will debut. Land Rove’rs next move will likely be adding a new three-row model.
Currently only the LR4 is available with one. Three row crossovers are sales gold in the marketplace right now. Just ask Infiniti, who is experiencing record sales with the JX. The current Range Rover Sport shares a platform with the LR4 and for its next generation model it will be moving to the bigger platform of the Range Rover.
The wheel base of this platform is seven inches longer than the current model, enabling the addition of a third row. It’s an interesting move from a marketing perspective, given that the Sport is the most nimble and performance focused model of the LR line up. It would make more sense to increase the wheelbase of the LR4 and leave the Sport on a smaller platform. Even BMW only has two-row crossovers. However, this is likely to be a hot selling model for Land Rover.
Auto Express reports that it will still have a focus on performance, following in the Range Rovers footsteps by reducing weight significantly. So, despite getting bigger the next model will be lighter. After the Range Rover Sport, the next major introduction for LR will be the new Defender. It’s due later in the decade and it will likely go directly against the Jeep Wrangler. If done right it could serve duty as the brand’s volume model for the foreseeable future.
