range rover velar unveiled

Innovative technology has been put to excellent use in updating the design of the Range Rover Velar

- James Nicholls

I have always been a Range Rover fan and really enjoyed one of the earlier models when I had one in my ownership. When the Range Rover Velar was launched in mid-2017, I immediately thought it to be the most beautiful of the model range which of course also comprises of the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport, and the baby of the fleet the Range Rover Evoque.

The Velar is without doubt a very capable vehicle and certainly can do so very much more both on and off-road than is often demanded of it by its style-conscious owners. True, it may not be quite as capable as the bigger siblings in the Range Rover lineup, but it has the ability to be so much more than just being regarded as the pretty sister to the original Range Rover launched in 1970 under the catchy play on words as, “A car for all reasons.”

Of course, very much has changed over the course of half a century including the look and feel of the two-box design SUV (the Sport Utility Vehicle, just in case the acronym has usurped its origin and you have forgotten its meaning) and took over from the three-box sedan.

And indeed, quite a lot has been changed on the Velar since its launch seven years ago when, according to Brian Appleyard, author of The Car – The rise and fall of the machine that made the Modern World, the term SUV (though not the style of vehicle) reached its apotheosis.

At the time the Land Rover Chief Design Officer, Gerry McGovern, said, “We call the Velar the avant-garde Range Rover. It brings a new dimension of glamour, modernity, and elegance to the brand.”