Land Rover Range_e: Walks on water. Apparently.

Land Rover Range_e - Walks on water

What can you do when you’re a resurgent maker of high-end off-roaders in an age when the world expects nothing but fresh air to come from exhaust pipes? Simple – you play the hybrid game.

Unlike Jaguar – who are going the range extender route with their hybrid cars – Land Rover are opting for the traditional hybrid route, either as a plug-in or a regular Prius-like hybrid setup.

The Land Rover Range_e on the floor at Geneva is a plug-in hybrid sitting in a Range Rover Sport with the very good 3.0 litre diesel the Sport already has (here in 241bhp guise) coupled to a 93bhp electric motor powered by a 14.2 kWh bank of lithium-ion batteries.

All this, Range Rover say, adds up to a RRS that emits just 89g/km, does 85mpg and can run for 20 miles just on electric power. Apparently, it also walks on water.

Never, in a million years, is a 3.0 litre, 241bhp diesel in a two ton Range Rover Sport going to do 85mpg and emit 89g/km whether it’s attached to an electric motor or not. It’s just plain daft to pretend it will.

The whole thrust of the Range_e’s very clever drivetrain is buried under disingenuous, sensationalist statements on economy and emissions. It completely ruins what would otherwise be an impressive announcement of a very good plug-in hybrid in a real Range Rover which retains all the abilities of a Land Rover.

We can only assume the frankly daft mpg claims are based on the diesel engine only being used for X% of the time by the majority of owners. But why not say that instead of using headline figures which are palpable nonsense?

We’d have expected better. From Land Rover, not the Range_e.

By Cars UK