The 2022 Range Rover is shaping up to be an extremely important vehicle for Jaguar Land Rover and the company’s North American chief executive, Joe Eberhardt, appears confident in its future.
The launch of the latest-generation Range Rover has arrived at a time when demand for SUVs continues to soar and shoppers are willing to spend more on luxury vehicles like this than ever before. Indeed, prices for the new Range Rover can top $250,000 and while Eberhardt doesn’t view it as a direct rival to the likes of the Bentley Bentayga and Rolls-Royce Cullinan, he acknowledges that there is some cross-shopping between them.
During a recent interview with Auto News, Eberhardt revealed that roughly 11,000 orders have been placed for the 2022 Range Rover.
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“We have around 11,000 orders,” he said. “I don’t think we’ll have anything [unsold vehicles] on the ground for the foreseeable future. We are ramping up production now. I think we will eventually have a good supply, but that depends on our ability to procure the parts needed and how quickly we sell what’s coming. It’s a good problem to have.”
Adding to the appeal of the 2022 Range Rover is the fact that it is available with three rows. Eberhardt expects a 60-40 split between sales of the short wheelbase and the long-wheelbase model, most of which will be ordered with the available third row.
“I think at a minimum, the three-row car will account for 40 percent of sales,” he said. “But it could potentially be higher, just because it is so nicely executed. When the customer doesn’t need the third row, there’s the extra luggage space. It’s the most usable of the variants.”
Interestingly, and despite the new Range Rover being loaded with technology, Jaguar Land Rover hasn’t placed a huge emphasis on semi-autonomous driving tech when promoting the SUV. According to Eberhardt, JLR doesn’t need to be a leader in this field.
“We have Level 2 technology, and we’ve had that for a while. I don’t have the exact usage data, but I think the majority of our customers like to focus on driving. And they see assistance as support, not to take over the driving. Personally, I think that’s the future. I don’t think we will see full autonomy in personal vehicles anytime soon.”
Jaguar Land Rover is also encouraging those ordering the new Range Rover to go for something bespoke. According to Eberhardt, bespoke orders help to improve customers’ engagement with the brand as they can configure and order their dream vehicle.
