Range Rover Velar (2018) UK price, interior, release date: Everything you need to know

Curtis Moldrich Read more March 2, 2017

The new Range Rover Velar is the most advanced Land Rover ever, and it could be the car that brings the British company to the cutting-edge of car tech. It’s not as fast or as pretty as the Jaguar F-Type, but inside and out, it has everything JLR needs to take on the likes of Mercedes and Audi.

“The new Range Rover Velar is a stunning addition to the Range Rover family. It enhances a model lineup that originally defined the luxury SUV segment and continues to do so,” said Jeremy Hicks, managing director of Jaguar Land Rover UK. “Velar brings increased choice to new and existing customers in a growing SUV market. The whole team is enormously excited about bringing the new Range Rover Velar to customers across the UK.”

Want to know more about the Range Rover Velar? Keep reading.

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Range Rover Velar: Everything you need to know

Price and release date

According to Range Rover, the new Velar will start at a cost of £44,000, putting it in the high- to middle-range area of the SUV market. According to Land Rover, the Range Rover Velar will be available to buy very soon, too, with official information pointing to a sale date in summer 2017.

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Design

The Range Rover Velar is designed to fit between the existing Evoque and Range Rover Sport models, and its design appears to be a combination of both. Size-wise, the new Velar fits in between the two models, and features the same boxy but rounded styling of its siblings – even down to the Matrix LED headlights and door handles that are flush to the rest of the bodywork.

Interior

The outward design of the new Range Rover may be eye-catching, but it’s inside where Land Rover appears to have put the most effort. Until recently, JLR has arguably been behind the curve when it comes to in-car tech, and the Velar looks to change that.

The interior of the Velar is a mass of leather and stitching – as you’d expect from a car that costs around £40,000 – but it’s also dominated by the Velar’s new Touch Pro Duo infotainment system.

Infotainment

The new Touch Pro Duo takes up the entire centre console and consists of two 10in touchscreens that are designed to work together to offer a range of functions. Land Rover says the system will be able to display all the functions you’d expect, but can also be customised.

The first screen looks to be the one you’ll use most, and interestingly it’s tiltable by up to 30 degrees – not something you tend to see. The upper screen should act as more of a traditional infotainment console, while the latter is primarily used for air conditioning and other vehicle handling settings.

Although we haven’t been able to have a go with the Touch Pro system yet, with any luck it will soon begin to appear in JLR’s other cars, which could use a technology-focused boost.

Elsewhere in the cabin, Land Rover appears to have borrowed a page out of both Mercedes’ and Audi’s book. The new Velar, includes a 5in TFT screen between the dials, but more interestingly, it also includes an optional 12.3in Interactive Driver display.

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Land Rover says the Touch Pro system is powered by a 60GB SSD and Ethernet network, so in theory, it should be faster than the often laggy systems we’ve seen in other JLR cars.

It will feature everything from speed to navigation details and can be used in conjunction with a heads-up display, and steering-wheel-based controls. When we get hold of one of these new Velars, it will be interesting to see just how well it does compare to the German carmakers’ versions.

Connectivity and audio also appear to be a focus for the new Velar, and the new car has a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to eight devices (two less than the new BMW 5 Series), as well as a range of high-end audio systems.

Semi-autonomous systems

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The new Range Rover Velar also has a range of semi-autonomous functions, including autonomous emergency braking, lane-departure warning and lane-keep assist, which will help guide the car into the centre of the lane.

Alongside the other functions we’ve come to expect from this sector of car, the Range Rover Velar also features some interesting driver-condition monitoring software. Simply put, this will analyse the driver’s inputs, and if an algorithm decides the driver is drowsy – with erratic steering, for example – a coffee cup symbol will appear on the dash.

SVR model on the way

New images suggest that Range Rover wants to add a dose of speed to that technology, so it’s going to release an SVR version of the Velar later this year.

If you’re a fan of Jaguar cars, you’ll know what SVR means – but if not, it’s time for some education. SVR stands for Special Vehicle Operations.. somehow, and it’s basically JLR’s equivalent to Mercedes’ sporty AMG or BMW’s M badge.

The new model was seen testing in camouflage at the famous Nurburgring this month, and CarandBike says it’ll be running a 5.0-litre V8 petrol unit capable of 550bhp. The engine won’t be the only SVR upgrade though; CarandBike also notes that the Velar SVR’s bodywork will get some aerodynamic tweaks too.

We’ll be driving and reviewing the new Range Rover Velar soon, so check back here to see our first impressions and initial thoughts.