Range Rover has created an all-new model in an all-new segment: its first all-electric grand tourer. We’ve just had a peek at it… sort of. Our early look suggests it may be the most radical addition to the family since the original Range Rover Sport charged in.
Yes, we’ve seen this new Range Rover GT in the metal—albeit wrapped in distinctive camouflage—and it’s unlike any Range Rover that has come before it. It’s lower and noticeably more car-like than anything we’ve previously known from a brand built around luxury SUVs. This, however, is a 4-door grand tourer with proportions that we’d wager will make the established GT crowd take notice.
Range Rover describes the GT as the next member of its family, joining the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Evoque. In theory, it broadens the line-up more dramatically than ever before. This is a completely new expression of Range Rover: a luxury-focused GT car designed to do GT things in the brand’s customary serene, luxurious way. Yet it’s still a Range Rover, which means we can reasonably expect a level of capability beyond that of conventional GTs. It looks like a luxury saloon-GT but is expected to do far more than that segment traditionally suggests.
Range Rover GT design: the lowest, sleekest Range Rover yet
At roughly 1.56m tall, according to the preview briefing, the GT is the lowest Range Rover yet. The roofline is sleek, the body sits low over its large wheels, and the profile tapers elegantly towards the rear with a distinct coupé influence. Not even the camouflage can hide that. We don’t know much else yet in terms of design, powertrain figures, chassis details or dynamic targets. What we do know—and what we were able to experience firsthand—is the philosophy behind the car.
Standing alongside the GT’s project team, including Range Rover Managing Director Martin Limpert, it was clear there’s a genuine sense of achievement and pride in bringing what is, on paper at least, a surprising concept to market.
He says: “Range Rover GT will redefine the grand touring segment with the ability to deliver beautiful and engaging GT poise, proportions and long-distance refinement while offering capabilities no conventional GT can match.”
They’re bold claims, but when you consider Range Rover’s long-standing reputation for building luxurious vehicles capable of travelling vast distances at speed and in supreme comfort, I came away thinking… it actually makes complete sense.
It’s a GT, but it’s a Range Rover first
The obvious question is whether a vehicle this low and sporting can remain recognisably Range Rover. The brand’s answer is an emphatic yes. Range Rover says the GT will combine long-distance refinement and effortless electric performance with the all-terrain capability expected of the badge.
That promise sits at the heart of the car’s appeal—not only for existing Range Rover owners but also for a new type of customer. The GT is not positioned as a conventional performance saloon with a luxury badge attached, nor is it simply an SUV with a lowered roof. Instead, it appears to be something more unusual: a genuine grand tourer that borrows the body control, comfort and road presence of a luxury car while retaining the versatility that has made Range Rover its own category… with a little extra spice learned from the Sport.
The cabin of the Range Rover GT is the real reveal
For now, the most revealing aspect of the Range Rover GT is its interior. Range Rover calls the new architecture a “calm sanctuary” and, after spending time inside it, the phrase feels more considered than marketing cliché. The cabin is unlike anything else from the brand. It’s an entirely new approach that can best be described as warm, reductive (read: minimalist) and inspired more by contemporary luxury furniture than the automotive industry’s usual obsession with surfaces, seams and displays.
The effect is exceptionally airy. A long horizontal dashboard graphic is carried by a concealed air vent running across the cabin, while a woven textile wraps the entire fascia in one cohesive sweep, even hiding the speakers beneath it.
Crucially, this is not a screen-fest. There is a head-up display, a compact driver display and a 13-inch central touchscreen. The latter two sit within an ultra-slim 7mm bezel, but the technology never dominates the cabin. The user experience is entirely new and refreshingly simple. Range Rover’s goal was for the systems to be ever-present when needed but visually recessive when they are not.
Airy, calm cabins usually translate into generous space, and that’s certainly true here. It feels roomy throughout both rows, particularly in terms of rear legroom. Range Rover claims class-leading legroom, although I’m still trying to figure out exactly which class it’s referring to.
The seats are a particular highlight. Trimmed in a new material designed to age beautifully, they’re among the most comfortable I’ve experienced in any luxury car. Range Rover has deliberately given both the seat base and backrest a concave shape that seems to mould itself around your body. Think of those ridiculously expensive pillows you never want to get up from.
Four or five seats and obsessive attention to detail
The Range Rover GT will be offered in both four- and five-seat configurations. In the four-seat version, a broad rear centre armrest incorporates a control screen and cupholders, making the rear cabin feel more like a thoughtfully designed lounge than a compromised second row. We’ve seen similar thinking in other Range Rover models, but the GT expands both the user experience and practicality.
There are four ventilated wireless charging pads and four USB-C ports throughout the cabin. Storage bins are neatly integrated into the front, while the central storage compartment can cool, freeze or warm its contents. That’s properly posh.
Above, a large panoramic roof uses chromatic technology that can switch between clear and opaque. Thankfully, for hotter climates like ours, a physical sunblind is also expected to be available.
Range Rover GT launch: officially a go!
The GT is currently completing final global on-road testing, and much remains under wraps. What Range Rover has confirmed, however, is significant. It will be the first all-electric Range Rover built on JLR’s new EMA architecture and will launch initially as a battery-electric vehicle. A hybrid version is planned later in its lifecycle, and production will take place at Halewood in the UK. Will there be a V8? We asked. Let’s just say Range Rover wasn’t prepared to rule it out.
The headline here is that Range Rover is creating an entirely new type of car. It’s the brand’s own interpretation of a grand tourer, but one unlike anything we’ve seen before. It remains unmistakably a Range Rover, with no compromises on luxury or versatility, yet at launch it will arrive as a pure EV riding on the brand’s new EMA platform.
That’s all we know for now. Specifications, pricing, range and South African availability have yet to be announced. Those details will follow later this year, but based on this early encounter, the Range Rover GT is already shaping up to be one of the most consequential new models the brand has launched in decades—a grand tourer that may well create an entirely new space between the traditional luxury saloon and the luxury SUV.
