Rumour: Range Rover Velar to launch in India this year

Land Rover had globally unveiled the Range Rover Velar last month and was also showcased at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show. Media reports suggest that this new SUV will be launched in India by the end of this year. This information was reportedly revealed by the company's Managing Director and President - Rohit Suri.

The Velar is the 4th product under the company's Range Rover line-up. It has been introduced to bridge the gap between the Range Rover Evoque and the Range Rover Sport. It is built on Land Rover's lightweight aluminium architecture, which also underpins the Jaguar F-Pace. Overall design language of the Velar is similar to other offerings in the Range Rover line-up, though it gets relatively smoother character lines. The front fascia includes full LED headlamps, DRLs and a wide front grille. The side showcases Range Rover's characteristic profile, featuring the blacked out pillars and large alloy wheels. The rear end comes with LED wraparound taillights and chromed twin exhaust pipes.

The interiors of the Range Rover Velar are dominated by two 10-inch touchscreen displays, which eliminate the need to offer physical buttons on the centre console. The top screen functions as a regular infotainment system, while the lower screen placed ahead of the gear lever offers controls for the climate control system, seat settings and terrain response system. Other features on offer with the Velar include 20-way adjustment for front seats with heating, cooling and massage functions, a four-zone climate control system and a 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster on the higher variants.

Internationally, the Range Rover Velar is available with a variety of petrol and diesel engines. These include a 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel that can be opted in two tunes - 178 BHP and 237 BHP. The entry-level petrol is also a 2.0-litre Ingenium powerplant rated at 247 BHP. The higher variants also get an option of 3.0-litre V6 diesel and petrol engines that develop 375 BHP and 296 BHP, respectively. It is not yet known which of these engine options will be making it to the India-spec model. However, it is expected to come with the company's off-road technological features like Terrain Response 2, active rear locking e-differential and torque vectoring.

The Range Rover Velar will be brought into India through the CBU (completely built units) route. It is expected to compete against the likes of the BMW X5, Audi Q7, Volvo XC90 and the Porsche Macan.

Source: Autocar India