The second generation Range Rover Sport has just been released at the new york Auto Show, but even the official press release (Chinese) calls it "Range Rover Sport Edition". Is that really the case? Isn’t this a mistake? Perhaps only by reviewing the birth process of the first generation Range Rover Sport can we understand this beautiful mistake more deeply!
The root cause of this error is that "Range Rover" is both a brand and a model, and in "Range Rover Sport", it just refers to the brand-luxury SUV (special area) brand under Land Rover Motor Company. Of course, it is also because we are used to the marketing model that a car is divided into many models according to different configurations, and the most common one is the "sports version".
If you know the answers to the above questions, you should believe as firmly as I do: Range Rover Sport should be called "Range Rover Sport"! This is not only related to the reason why Land Rover developed this car, but also related to the market positioning of this car and the original intention of the designers and engineers who developed this car!
Before answering these questions, let’s take a look at the changes of Land Rover Motor Company in the past 30 years, and I specifically mentioned four models because they are related to the birth of Range Rover Sport. It is particularly important to note which company Land Rover belongs to before and after the release period of these cars, which represents the research and development and listing background of the corresponding models.
The appearance of Range Rover Sport is entirely due to the appearance of the third generation Range Rover. The third-generation Range Rover was developed in the BMW era, and its development director, Mr. Leitzler, defined it as an off-road version of the BMW 7 Series, which was a great improvement over the second-generation Range Rover. BMW developed a real Monocoque single body for it, realizing the unification of light weight and high body strength; BMW also brought it a more luxurious interior, but failed to wait for its official release.
When BMW sold Land Rover to Ford Motor Company in 2000, Mr. Leitzler also chose to join Ford Motor Company as the head of the then Ford Premium Car Group. Because the third-generation Range Rover has left a profitable market gap after upgrading, Land Rover needs to make a choice: continue to produce the second-generation Range Rover or develop a new car. Because American dealers are worried that the continued production of the second-generation Range Rover (as an old model, it will inevitably face price reduction) will affect the residual value of used cars, resulting in the need to reduce the price of leasing and other businesses, thus damaging their interests, they are firmly opposed. Therefore, Range Rover developed Sport.
Land Rover’s goal of developing Range Rover Sport is clear, that is, to replace the second-generation Range Rover, so the designer is likely to be "lazy"-he just changed it with the second-generation Range Rover. Of course, this statement is entirely the author’s conjecture. Even if it is only changed, its workload can be quite a lot: body, chassis, engine, and the latest unique off-road stunt-all-terrain feedback adaptive system.
Don’t underestimate the first generation Freelander (code CB40) on the picture, it is the source of the concept of Range Rover Sport, and even the source of the concept of BMW X series! It was released in 1997, when Land Rover had been under BMW for three years, enough to complete the development process of a new car. In Freelander, Land Rover explored the cross-border combination of car chassis and off-road vehicles (special areas), and the market proved that this idea was very successful, and the sales of Freelander in Europe were excellent. This attempt proves that it is promising to consider road performance on off-road vehicles. Why can’t Range Rover be sporty?
Mike Cross determines the steering feeling, driving quality, handling, NVH and performance level of Range Rover Sport. Most of this calibration process was completed at newberg Lin Circuit. When Range Rover Sport ushered in the first batch of test drive media, Mike Cross naturally mastered the steering wheel of the new car.
Of course, from the design of the whole vehicle, Range Rover Sport also emphasizes sports. After all, the previously released Range Stormer concept car has already reflected a more sporty appearance. Range Rover designers wanted to build a GT-style SUV. Judging from the media evaluation at that time, they succeeded!
At that time, Land Rover Company also struggled with how to call this car. There is a saying that designer Mike Sampson wrote Range Rover Sport on the sketch, so this car later chose this name …
At this point, if you still think that the Chinese name of Range Rover Sport should be "Range Rover Sport Edition", then I have nothing to say. Range Rover Sport is a completely different car from the third-generation Range Rover at that time. Its "Sport" comes not only from the appearance, but also from the careful adjustment of Jaguar!
To discuss this issue, we should start with R&D in discovery 3. Discovery 3 was established in the BMW era, but just at the beginning of research and development, Land Rover was sold to Ford. The R&D team of Discovery 3 considered adopting the chassis of Ford Explorer, but after evaluation, it felt that its off-road capability could not meet the requirements of Land Rover, and finally decided to develop a brand-new T5 platform. The T5 platform only draws on one design of Explorer: the rear drive shaft passes under the side beam of the chassis …
When developing the T5 platform, Land Rover considered that it would launch a variety of models on the platform. In order to increase the applicability of the platform and reduce the research and development cost, it decided to adopt the traditional girder chassis structure. But this will make people feel that it is a technological retrogression, so Land Rover calls this structure "Integrated Body-Frame", which is actually very similar to the non-loaded body of the second-generation Range Rover. Its engine compartment and passenger compartment are single-body design, but its chassis is trapezoidal girder structure, which is used to support gearbox and suspension. It can be said that this is a semi-single body structure, and Land Rover says it has advantages over the other two structures-except that it is heavier.
Although the fourth generation discovery is still from the T5 platform, the latest generation Range Rover Sport has adopted the same all-aluminum body as the fourth generation Range Rover, and even the wheelbase is 2 mm longer than the fourth generation Range Rover Sport, and it is 178 mm longer than the first generation Range Rover Sport. In a sense, the second generation Range Rover Sport can be said to be "Range Rover Sport Edition".
Range Stormer concept car is known as the concept car released at the first auto show in the history of Land Rover, and its historical position is extremely important, but is it the source of Range Rover Sport? The answer should be no. However, in this concept car, Ford T5 platform and all-terrain feedback adaptive system have indeed become the platform foundation and technical core of Range Rover Sport. Moreover, its wheelbase is the same as that of Range Rover Sport, but it is much smaller than Discovery 3 from T5.
The appearance of Range Rover Sport has attracted a lot of criticism, but it is not aimed at the vehicle itself. In 2005, Greenpeace protested at the factory that was preparing to produce Range Rover Sport, which forced the production of this car to be postponed. Protesters say they don’t care how much carbon dioxide cars like Land Rover Defender emit because they are designed for off-road use, but cars like Range Rover Sport are "tuned for road performance" and should be responsible for global warming. Perhaps this is one of the driving forces behind Land Rover’s carbon dioxide compensation plan.
After the launch of Range Rover Sport, it was very popular, but it was co-linear with Discovery 3 and affected the market performance. Sacrifice is easy to make, because the profit of Range Rover Sport is higher than that of Discovery 3. At that time, even Ford relied partly on this car to improve its business performance!
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