Introducing the Range Rover GT
Range Rover GT is the fifth member of the Range Rover family, and it sits alongside the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Evoque and Velar. This prestigious marque has always promised to get you to your destination in comfort, whatever lies in between. The Range Rover GT keeps that promise in a lower, sleeker shape with coupé proportions. GT stands for grand touring, or gran turismo in Italian, a label long used for cars built to cover great distances at speed and in luxury.
This fully electric grand tourer is built at Halewood in the UK on a new platform known as EMA, short for Electrified Modular Architecture. Range Rover's team call it the most car-like, yet unmistakably capable, Range Rover ever created. That is a striking claim from a brand whose reputation was built on capability, and it suggests the GT has a character all of its own.
Design and Practicality
The sloping roofline points to a car built for covering ground gracefully, and it sets the GT apart from the more upright members of the Range Rover family.
Inside, the design team has removed whatever the cabin does not need, with the aim of reducing noise and clutter. Woven textile wraps the dashboard and hides the speakers, and a single vent runs unseen across its full width. The centre console is built as a bridge between the armrest and the dashboard, which leaves open storage space underneath.
Rear passengers have not been forgotten. Range Rover describes the second-row legroom as class-leading, and a panoramic glass roof keeps the cabin flooded with light. The GT is offered as a four-seater with two individual rear seats, or as a five-seater with a rear bench for the occasional extra passenger.
Technology and Safety
The interesting part of the GT's technology is how little of it is on show. Understated in a typically British way, a single screen sits alongside a slim display in place of a traditional instrument cluster.
The voice assistant responds to natural conversation, so a spoken request can replace an attention-sapping fumble through the menus. Running late for dinner in the country, a driver can ask the car to ring the restaurant without letting go of the wheel.
A head-up display keeps key information in the driver's line of sight. Beneath a sliding cover on the centre console, twin wireless charging pads give a phone somewhere to rest and recharge on the way.
On safety, both the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport have each earned the maximum five-star rating from Euro NCAP, so we expect similar levels from the Range Rover GT.
Powertrains and Performance
Most grand tourers are judged on how serenely they devour miles on a motorway. The GT is also designed to be at home beyond the tarmac. That ambition is pure Range Rover.
Long-haul comfort with effortless performance is the aim. Electric motors deliver their full torque from a standstill, so even a large electric car can feel remarkably brisk pulling away from the lights. With no engine to rise through its revs, the push arrives smoothly and almost silently, as if the road were simply unrolling beneath the car.
That calm should follow the car off the tarmac. Picture a steep, wet track running down to a country house. Easing off the accelerator, the driver can let the motors return energy to the battery as the car slows, and the cabin stays hushed throughout. Setting off again on the slippery surface at the bottom should take little more than a gentle squeeze of the pedal.
Charging
Plug the Range Rover GT in on a winter evening and the Range Rover App can leave it to charge during the most cost-effective hours of the night. A few minutes before leaving the next morning, the same app can warm the cabin using electricity from the wall, which leaves the battery's range untouched.
Public charging comes into its own on longer journeys, when a break is due anyway. Rapid charging is quickest up to about 80 percent, which is why the times quoted for fast chargers stop there. On the road, the app shows live maps of chargers and their availability, and brings payment for several providers into one place.
For anyone new to electric ownership, Range Rover offers the extra reassurance of guaranteeing the battery on its electric models for eight years or 100,000 miles, whichever comes first.
Experience the Range Rover GT with Stratstone
The Range Rover GT is for the driver who admires quiet confidence and wants it in a lower, more elegant shape, with an electric drive and a calm, refined cabin. No conventional grand tourer, says Range Rover, can match the GT's capability, and this car is built to prove it.
To learn more about the new Range Rover GT or to register your interest, please speak to your nearest Stratstone Land Rover retailer.
