Land Rover may have just two platforms underpinning its range of SUVs and crossovers in the future. According to a report from Car and Driver this is a part of their initiative to streamline their platforms, modernise their line up and we suspect an attempt to cut costs.
The British SUV major currently has four platforms; Ford derived EUCD platform which underpins the Evoque crossover and the Freelander 2, the extremely old but still running platform that underpins the Defender, the D7 platform that has spawned the new Range Rover and the Range Rover Sport and finally a platform that underpinned the third generation Range Rover and was developed when Land Rover was under BMW ownership.
According to the report, Land Rover is expected to retain the EUCD platform and D7 platform of which the latter has been developed in house. While the EUCD will continue to support variants of the Evoque and the Freelander 2, the D7 will underpin future versions of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Discovery and the Defender. This platform will also underpin a long wheelbase version of the Range Rover specifically aimed at the Chinese market and will be launched next year. Land Rover has also confirmed a diesel hybrid variant for the Range Rover and this is likely to be based on the 3.0-litre V6 turbo diesel mill.
The report suggests that one of the biggest challenges that the company will face during the streamlining process will be on what to do about the Defender. It has been around for more than 65 years due to popular demand. The company over the years has constantly upgraded the vehicle to meet modern standards but overall the design of the vehicle has remained the same overall. They had unveiled the DC100 concept in this regard in 2011 but it was met with lukewarm response.
Such a move also indicates a bigger role for the Indian facility. It is likely that along with the Freelander 2, Range Rover may also start assembling other models here in the future.
