Could the last 12-24 months have been any tougher for JLR? First the expansion of China’s economy slowed, the parent firm took a big financial hit, the home market remains convulsed by Brexit, public opinion has turned against diesel engines, and then came COVID. Somehow, Jaguar and Land Rover have endured, helped by new vehicles such as the Evoque plug-in hybrid.
Earlier today, ACEA released numbers Europe-wide passenger vehicle registrations and overall, it’s not great reading. As always though, there are interesting happenings: Volvo down by only 9% and comprehensively thumping the struggling Nissan (26,434 vehicles sold last month versus 23,324), Kia still outselling Hyundai, Jeep UP by 16% (thank you PHEV sales in Italy), Audi also up (by 1%), Jaguar beaten by an import-only make (39,930 compared to Lexus’ 42,229 YtD) yet still ahead of would-be premium brand DS, Toyota bigger than Ford in November (56,933, -0.7% and 56,109, -23.8%), smart down by 66%.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Not too bad a 2020 for Land Rover
Land Rover, somewhat battered along with every other marque which sells vehicles in the EU-EFTA-UK, has had a surprisingly good 2020 all things considered. Think about how steep a downturn it’s been for diesel and petrol-powered big SUVs such as the Range Rover and Sport and yet the brand is down by 26.9% to 102,187 registrations. During the first eleven months of 2019, the number was 139,777. Crucially, market share has held at 1.0%, so we’re talking about the same sort of size as Mitsubishi and Jeep.
For the year to the end of November, Land Rover’s British market’s registrations are down by 25.3% to 53,957, which, all things considered, is equally OK. Compared to this time last year, the brand is now more popular here than Peugeot, plus it remains ahead of Skoda.
New models coming in 2021
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataCould 2021 even turn out to be a good year? I won’t curse L-R by speculating. Let’s just say, with all the new variants of existing vehicles, plus the first year of uninterrupted production (we hope) for the L663 Defender and a new Range Rover (L460) and maybe L461 (RRS) too, 2021 might be better than 2020.
A big change for one of JLR’s best sellers came not too long ago in the form of a plug-in hybrid option for the Range Rover Evoque. How time flies: this month marks two years since series build of L551, the second generation model, began in England, followed by China in April 2019. We should see more from the Chery-JLR joint venture next year too, with an extended Evoque set to arrive, something which in theory should do wonders for the model’s sales performance in the PRC.
Petrol-electric power: three or four cylinders?
JLR uses a P and an e to signify its plug-in hybrids, with 300 or 400 in between. Both three- and four-cylinder ones run on petrol and are turbocharged. While the brands’ larger RWD-AWD models use the Ingenium 2.0-litre, the smaller FWD-AWD vehicles such as the Evoque and its Discovery Sport brother have a 1,497 cc alternative.
The Evoque P300e (and identically powered Discovery Sport P300e) became available to order in April, initially only in the UK. For obvious reasons, ramp up started slowly but now production is running according to plan at Halewood on Merseyside, with CJLR also building the PHEV in Changshu. The Jiangsu province facility will also be where the Evoque L is sourced from. It will be interesting to see if there are exports: there’s no reason why it wouldn’t be a success in North America, Europe and elsewhere.
Aisin auto replaces ZF for P300e
The three-cylinder engine puts out 147 kW (200 PS) and drives the front wheels, the 80 kW (109 PS) and 260 Nm motor is positioned on the rear axle and the (Samsung) battery has a capacity of 15.1 kWh. The great news about this powertrain/drivetrain is that unlike many PHEVs, there’s no CVT. In fact, the gearbox is a special eight-speed automatic supplied by Aisin, not the nine-speed ZF one fitted to all other Evoques.
What Land Rover seems to be too modest to shout about is how fast the P300e is, and – this was a pleasant surprise – how good the engine sounds. I was allowed only a short drive the car so this is merely an impression of the plug-in hybrid, along with the background information.
Combined power and torque are 227 kW (309 PS) and 540 Nm, zero to 100 km/h takes just 6.4 seconds and the top speed on ions is 135 km/h (84 mph).
The thing is uncannily quiet and unlike some high-priced vehicles which use only a battery rather than a combustion engine too, the Evoque is put together perfectly and has the looks and feel of a true luxury model. I’ve had a go in one before and somehow, this new PHEV feels genuinely premium in a way that the earlier one didn’t. Perhaps it was because I’d been so fond of the orginal Evoque and wasn’t convinced that the shift to a way more digital dashboard was a step forwards.
Evoqueing admiration
It might just be various tweaks for the 2021 model year cars having resulted in the vehicle maturing a bit, if that’s the right word. Whatever the case, the plug-in hybrid Evoque was the one vehicle which I tried at a JLR event this week which exceeded expectations. The others, an XE Project 8 and a F-Type R convertible, were always going to be sensational and they were, with the fourth new-to-me model, a Defender 90, being as good as I’d presumed. The limited to 30 minutes drives were way too brief yet in common with how 2020 has seemed to so many of us, best to just be appreciative of the fun we’ve been able to grab when we could.
In as-tested R-Dynamic HSE form, the MY21 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque costs from GBP51,850 OTR. The maximum range in EV mode is claimed to be 66 km or 41 miles while the WLTP-rated CO2 average can be as low as 32 g/km.
