Remember the Range Rover SV Coupe? Revealed two years ago at Geneva, it was a nod to Range Rover's two-door heritage and intended to take the brand further upmarket as an SVO product. As such, the 999 examples were going to cost a quarter of a million pounds. Still, deposits were taken, and the project was underway... right up until it wasn't. Along with the Discovery SVX, the SV Coupe was another fun project halted in the company's great cost-cutting cull.
But there is hope for those customers wishing to combine the modernity and luxury of a contemporary Range Rover with the sporty elegance of a traditional two-door body, and it comes from Dutch coachbuilder Niels van Roij. You know, the guy who made that very smart Tesla shooting brake.
His latest is the Aventum Coupe, a car that pics up where the SV left off to deliver "a real design statement with distinctive, custom-made aluminium bodywork". It's said that just the bonnet, wings and bootlid are shared with a standard L405 Range Rover, with coachbuilder Bas van Roomen in charge of making it a functional coupe. The keen will note it's not as sleek as the SVO effort, the silhouette blockier and the rear less tapered, though it could be argued that plays to the heritage more accurately anyway.
The Aventum Coupe is much more than just a two-door conversion, then, its makers very keen to push its bespoke, one-off, coachbuilt nature. This particular car, build number one, has teak decking throughout like it's a four-wheeled yacht, captain's chairs for the rear bench, red Nappa leather and a pair of Aventum Coupe umbrellas in the boot. But you can do anything: "In a co-design process with the future owner, we shape exterior and interior... We make it so personal that even the favourite pinstripe from the owner's suit can be incorporated into the interior", said Van Roij. Which sounds an awful lot like the plan for the owners of the SV Coupe, to create something unique that justified the additional outlay. Still, if one person isn't going to run with a good idea, doesn't mean you can't...
Speaking of additional outlay, each Van Roij Aventum Coupe will start from €270,000, before tax, assuming the supercharged V8 is used. That price will vary depending on the base car provided and the specific options chosen for your car, with the build commencing once a €50,000 deposit has been received. So it would seem that those disappointed by Range Rover's decision can rest easy at last: the new two-door Range Rover exists again. Though don't rest too long - only 100 are being made...
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