The new-generation Range Rover Sport looks set to follow in the footsteps of its phenomenally successful baby brother; the Range Rover Evoque.
Land Rover’s all-new Range Rover Sport has already taken over 15,000 paid deposits – and that’s before even a single customer has driven the vehicle. In fact, the vehicle won’t arrive in showrooms until September in the UK (November for Australia), meaning there will be at least a six-month wait for new orders.
Evoque earned the title of the most successful Land Rover product over a single year when it notched up over 100,000 units in 2012. And sales are already on target to exceed that number this year.
JLR’s Phil Popham, Director, Group Sales Operations, told CarAdvice at this week’s global launch of the car in the UK, that he was expecting a strong result from the new model.
“There is no other production SUV in the world that has the breadth of capability of our new Range Rover Sport.”
“This has definitely pushed the envelope in terms of on-road dynamics and refinement. Our aim with the new-generation Sport was to make it a car without compromise, so that you don’t lose anything when it comes to off-road ability. In fact, if anything, you gain even more ability with systems such as our new Terrain Response 2 traction control system that make it all so easy in this vehicle,” added Popham.
“Certainly the focus has been on making the vehicle more Sport and more Range Rover with a real emphasis on on-road dynamics and on-road performance.”
Popham also admitted that Land Rover benchmarked the new Sport with several core competitors including the Porsche Cayenne and BMW X5, but that none of those could compete with the Range Rover Sport when it came to all-round ability.
“Clearly Cayenne is really focused on on-road dynamics, but it does not have the breadth of capability that we’ve got with the new Sport.”
Stay tuned for a full review of the Range Rover Sport tomorrow.
