2017 Range Rover Velar targets Porsche Macan

Given the runaway success of the Evoque, which has been instrumental in growing Land Rover’s global sales from 348,388 units in 2013 to 427,122 last year, the company expects demand from customers moving up the range from the Evoque to swell total volume well beyond 500,000 units a year.

One major point of difference between the Velar and its German rivals is likely to be the interior. Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern’s team has a track record of designing increasingly high-quality cabins, while simplifying the control and switch layouts, whereas Porsche has a more comprehensive, aircraft-like approach.

The Velar’s interior will progress further in areas where McGovern believes his cars already have an edge. The Velar will be powered by JLR’s extensive array of four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines, both diesel and petrol. The four-pot units will be from the established Ingenium range, built at JLR’s recently expanded Wolverhampton engine production facility, about 30 miles north-west of Solihull.

JLR will launch the Velar with the Ford-sourced V6s currently used throughout its range but will replace them during the model’s life with own-design Ingenium in-line six-cylinder petrol and diesel units. These 3.0-litre engines are modular versions of the 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium units with two extra cylinders.

Although it is possible the Velar could use the electric powertrain JLR is developing for its upcoming Jaguar I-Pace SUV, it is more likely to feature a hybrid version. Offering a hybrid, especially a plug-in, would cater for buyers who live in the megacities of Europe, Asia and the US, which are getting ever closer to specifying zeroemissions vehicles for their most congested areas.

JLR already has a hybrid powertrain in the range, used in the 340bhp 3.0 SDV6 HEV Range Rover Sport, but the Velar is more likely to use a newly developed plug-in system based on the 295bhp four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine. The company is also building its own hybrid electric motor, called the Electric Drive Module, expected to offer a real-world range of between 20 and 30 miles on battery power and to develop 201bhp and 332lb ft of torque, outputs well above those of the 113bhp electric motor used in the BMW X5 xDrive40e.