Why The Velar Is Known As The Avant-Garde Range Rover

“We call the Velar the avant-garde Range Rover (with) a new dimension of glamour, modernity, and elegance….” – Gerry McGovern, Chief Design Officer, Land Rover

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 line up, 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.”

Now the good Professor McGovern, who has subsequently acquired an OBE and the new title of Chief Creative Officer, says, “New Range Rover Velar is a flawless example of our modernist design philosophy – clean, reductive, and compellingly desirable. Defined by perfectly optimised proportions, Range Rover Velar embodies effortless sophistication with a bold elegance and dramatic presence that is truly unique.”

The latest update of the Range Rover Velar, still designed and built in the UK, continues to bring those dimensions to the brand. It looks fresh and modern both in the showroom and on the road, and it is full of innovative technology – much of it directed towards the luxurious nature of this automobile.

For a start the interior, the quietest cabin in its class for road noise, is much revamped and features a large 11.4-inch floating curved glass touchscreen, wireless updates, luxury leather free upholstery with wool blends and polyurethane textile inspired by bespoke tailoring, and Cabin Air Purification Plus helping to ensure cleaner interior air via advanced cabin filtration systems with PM2.5 filtration as well as CO₂ Management.

The idea of modernity is also reflected of course in its drivetrains with fully electric, and the latest hybrid petrol and diesel internal combustion engine options for those who are not yet ready to make the final step into a full new energy vehicle. With the significantly reduced emissions the average daily distance driven in a Range Rover Velar could be done with zero tailpipe emissions. Be warned though that average daily distance is often just the school run or a trip to the local shops and not halfway up Mt Everest of which this car is capable.

Jaguar Land Rover, which builds the Range Rover Velar, assures us that supreme all-terrain performance is guaranteed though, with an intelligent torque on-demand all-wheel drive system providing the optimum torque distribution to suit the conditions, whether driving dynamically on the road or pulling away from a standstill on slippery surfaces with a choice of Eco, Comfort, Grass-Gravel-Snow, Mud-Ruts, Sand, Dynamic and Automatic modes. Each alters the calibration of the engine, transmission, all-wheel drive system, suspension, and stability control systems for optimum traction and composure.

This car has, without a doubt, attributes that most of us in normal day-to-day driving will never utilise or experience. It is fast, strong, luxurious and comfortable, and much cleaner and more kind to the environment than previously. It also has lots of groovy design-led features – I really like for instance, as a fun little example, the customisable Configurable Cabin Lighting option which provides a choice of 30 interior colours to illuminate the doors, console and footwells thus increasing a sense of unique individuality that I appreciate in a car. It is a very modern automobile that maintains much of what is a delight for the traditional motorist and yet presents the Velar in an up to date and dynamic design package endeavouring to create an ultimate and experiential method of transport for the driver of today.

Today’s Range Rover Velar is exciting, cosseting, extremely capable, safe, and in comparison, to many cars being manufactured, also quite beautiful. If your idea of a car is still hopefully more than just a means of getting from A to B, then the Velar, with all of its amazing features from the very front, with its new Pixel LED Headlights with jewel-like effect Signature Daytime Running Lights, to the back, where the pronounced rear kick and hidden tailpipes along with LED taillights create an eye-catching 3D appearance and super-red illumination complemented by a full-length high-level stop-lamp, deserves some very serious consideration.

The origin of the Velar name dates to the first Range Rover prototypes of the Sixties when the development engineers needed to hide the true identity of the 26 pre-production Range Rover vehicles, they chose the name Velar, derived from the Latin ‘velare’ meaning to veil or cover.

One thing that many new energy vehicle manufacturers have been hiding behind is a veil covering the true distance that their electric cars can cover. A recent analysis by What Car magazine ascertained that electric cars may have up to a third less range in reality than is advertised with the data highlighting the difference between official tests and actual achievement. Again, the Velar has taken this into consideration by increasing the size of the battery by 12% to provide an extended real-world range, whilst its recharging capabilities are also at a highly efficient level.

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