The electric Range Rover(s) are finally here!
Discussion
But not from JLR... Who seem to have taken so long to get the car on the market that the Chinese have made their own, for half the price. Two, actually.
The NIO ES9
Which looks absolutely fantastic in terms of luxury, and it's probably a sub 100k car when it reaches our shores.
Also the Xpeng GX
Same sort of price, available as either a full BEV or range extended version with a small ICE generator. And yes, it looks exactly like a Range Rover - in fact, if you swapped the badges, you'd probably get away with it
So... Now when JLR eventually launch their own it's going to be price compared to these two, despite both of these cars most likely not even being designed until after JLR had stated their own electric Range Rover would be available. They have shafted themselves here, no?
Posting as I personally have been feverishly waiting for the electric Range Rover for the last three years, and in desperation I started to Google alternatives and found these things. They look like excellent alternatives TBF.
The NIO ES9
Which looks absolutely fantastic in terms of luxury, and it's probably a sub 100k car when it reaches our shores.
Also the Xpeng GX
Same sort of price, available as either a full BEV or range extended version with a small ICE generator. And yes, it looks exactly like a Range Rover - in fact, if you swapped the badges, you'd probably get away with it
So... Now when JLR eventually launch their own it's going to be price compared to these two, despite both of these cars most likely not even being designed until after JLR had stated their own electric Range Rover would be available. They have shafted themselves here, no?
Posting as I personally have been feverishly waiting for the electric Range Rover for the last three years, and in desperation I started to Google alternatives and found these things. They look like excellent alternatives TBF.
Panamax said:
Oh but my dear, it would be sooo embarassing to turn up at the golf club or the pony club in anything less than the real (unreliable) thing.
Indeed 
Although, joking aside, the snob factor problem is probably solved by the fact the actual Range Rover isn't available as an electric only! So if anyone thinks you've hit hard times... You can simply point out that you wanted an electric one and only the Chinese make one.
And for other reasons 'gas guzzling' giant SUV's aren't really on trend these days. Whatever respect a certain type of person feels the lose from the badge, they'll probably think they can claw back by pointing at the 'greenness'
Also, an electric powertrain in such a car is objectively better in most instances. It wouldn't be a difficult purchase to defend.
Edited by TheDeuce on Sunday 16th August 16:18
_Rodders_ said:
"probably a sub £100k car".
Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
The top spec versions are about $75k equivalent in China, which is far less than a similarly equipped Range Rover - which is more like $250k!Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
So it's all relative and the only reason I'm saying probably sub 100k in the UK is because our tariffs inflate the cost of Chinese cars. From the Chinese perspective, they have genuinely released electric Range Rovers for about 1/3 the price of the JLR car.
TheDeuce said:
_Rodders_ said:
"probably a sub £100k car".
Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
The top spec versions are about $75k equivalent in China, which is far less than a similarly equipped Range Rover - which is more like $250k!Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
So it's all relative and the only reason I'm saying probably sub 100k in the UK is because our tariffs inflate the cost of Chinese cars. From the Chinese perspective, they have genuinely released electric Range Rovers for about 1/3 the price of the JLR car.
I'll be amazed if we see many in the UK.
_Rodders_ said:
TheDeuce said:
_Rodders_ said:
"probably a sub £100k car".
Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
The top spec versions are about $75k equivalent in China, which is far less than a similarly equipped Range Rover - which is more like $250k!Absolutely mental that that has to be said about a Chinese car.
The immediate thought being, "I should bloody well hope so".
That said I've had a look at a couple of the XPeng's and they look alright but so they should they're very expensive cars.
So it's all relative and the only reason I'm saying probably sub 100k in the UK is because our tariffs inflate the cost of Chinese cars. From the Chinese perspective, they have genuinely released electric Range Rovers for about 1/3 the price of the JLR car.
I'll be amazed if we see many in the UK.
I'll be shocked if these cars don't sell incredibly well over here. Just as the Chinese Evoque equivalents have already managed - currently the UK's top selling car I think.
Jimbo. said:
RotorRambler said:
JLR should buy one, strip it down, bring out a copy in a few years..
They d still f
k it up.The badge obviously does a lot of heavy lifting but there's a limit. They really needed to get their own EV RR out before the Chinese made two of them! They now have a tough act to follow.
DMZ said:
I see two generic Chinese appliances. I don t think Range Rover is all that worried. The Chinese have had virtually no impact on the premium market for fairly obvious reasons.
Is the obvious reason that they started with the fat juicy middle part of the market?The Chinese have zero problems competing at the premium/luxury end of the market. As soon as they start to ship more premium cars to the UK/Europe, they'll sell.
DMZ said:
I see two generic Chinese appliances. I don t think Range Rover is all that worried. The Chinese have had virtually no impact on the premium market for fairly obvious reasons.
I really wish people would stop referring to them as 'Range Rovers' though.None of them have the RRs USP. They may be comfortable and well built, and they may be a threat to Audi/BMW/Volvo or the other road-biased fleet/leased SUVs people buy, but they are never going to be a threat to RR until they are the best off-road vehicles in their class (a class which was created and defined by the RR).
Until then they are just another SUV with zero off-road ability, like most of the others on the market.
WH16 said:
DMZ said:
I see two generic Chinese appliances. I don t think Range Rover is all that worried. The Chinese have had virtually no impact on the premium market for fairly obvious reasons.
I really wish people would stop referring to them as 'Range Rovers' though.None of them have the RRs USP. They may be comfortable and well built, and they may be a threat to Audi/BMW/Volvo or the other road-biased fleet/leased SUVs people buy, but they are never going to be a threat to RR until they are the best off-road vehicles in their class (a class which was created and defined by the RR).
Until then they are just another SUV with zero off-road ability, like most of the others on the market.
It IS still relevant and valuable that the RR has the goods to go off-road, it's still adds value so they can charge more too. But it oy adds so much relevance and value... It doesn't offset the fact that the cars from China, even landed in the UK, are around 1/3 the price of the RR.
The RR badge also has an inherent value too...
Say we assign 30k to the badge value and another 30k to the off road credentials. The Chinese cars are still considerably cheaper.
And in this context I refer the them as 'Range Rovers' chiefly because they're aimed at the same market and they look near identical to a RR. For the 95% of people that would never take them off road anyway...
TheDeuce said:
WH16 said:
DMZ said:
I see two generic Chinese appliances. I don t think Range Rover is all that worried. The Chinese have had virtually no impact on the premium market for fairly obvious reasons.
I really wish people would stop referring to them as 'Range Rovers' though.None of them have the RRs USP. They may be comfortable and well built, and they may be a threat to Audi/BMW/Volvo or the other road-biased fleet/leased SUVs people buy, but they are never going to be a threat to RR until they are the best off-road vehicles in their class (a class which was created and defined by the RR).
Until then they are just another SUV with zero off-road ability, like most of the others on the market.
It IS still relevant and valuable that the RR has the goods to go off-road, it's still adds value so they can charge more too. But it oy adds so much relevance and value... It doesn't offset the fact that the cars from China, even landed in the UK, are around 1/3 the price of the RR.
The RR badge also has an inherent value too...
Say we assign 30k to the badge value and another 30k to the off road credentials. The Chinese cars are still considerably cheaper.
And in this context I refer the them as 'Range Rovers' chiefly because they're aimed at the same market and they look near identical to a RR. For the 95% of people that would never take them off road anyway...
Perhaps the new crop of Chinese SUVs will take some sales away from the Evoque or Discovery Sport, but I just don't see any serious FFRR buyer with the means to afford one saying to themselves, 'I can save £70k buy buying one of these instead' Whereas there will be plenty of buyers who can't afford a RR, don't need the off-road ability who will buy a Chinese copy and then tell everyone who will listen that it is 'just as good' and congratulate themselves on being such a savvy consumer by 'saving' so much money they were not able to spend anyway.
TheDeuce said:
The Chinese have zero problems competing at the premium/luxury end of the market. As soon as they start to ship more premium cars to the UK/Europe, they'll sell.
They'll certainly have no engineering problem with it should they attempt it, but badge snobbery is a very real thing which will take time to overcome. kambites said:
TheDeuce said:
The Chinese have zero problems competing at the premium/luxury end of the market. As soon as they start to ship more premium cars to the UK/Europe, they'll sell.
They'll certainly have no engineering problem with it should they attempt it, but badge snobbery is a very real thing which will take time to overcome. Gassing Station | EV and Alternative Fuels | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff