Hopefully the potential dispersal of the Ford Premier Group won't affect this wonderful Jaguar/Land Rover collaboration that is being rumored. By borrowing aluminum (aluminium?) expertise from Jaguar, future Land Rovers could be as much as 1,000 pounds lighter than current models. Utilizing Jaguar's rivet-bonded aluminum monocoque body design, Land Rover could continue to build large luxury SUVs that are lighter and return even better fuel economy.
According to What Car's inside source, the new Range Rover will be the first all-alloy, monocoque-bodied 4x4 when it debuts in 2010. "There's no decision yet, and we don't have to decide for a couple of years, but it seems a logical step to investigate," said their source.
As they further point out, the Discovery and Range Rover Sport are both due for replacement a couple of years after the Range Rover, and it would make economic sense to share the technology across as many models as possible to exact the best economies of scale for L-R. It was expected that the new RR might switch to Land Rover's semi-monocoque steel T5 platform, which underpins the Discovery and the Range Rover Sport, but this makes a whole lot more sense.
Curb weight for the current Range Rover is about 6,000 pounds, but with a similar 15% weight savings as Jag has witnessed, Land Rover could get that down to less than 5,000 while maintaining the off-road toughness for which its vehicles are known. The boost in fuel economy and performance wouldn't hurt either.
[Source: What Car?]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim UF @ Oct 16th 2006 2:23PM
its aluminium... some american trascriber had bad handwriting and it got read as aluminum back in the day, so thats how we (americans) spell it.
that said, every car could benefit from going on an Al diet... both in frame/body and in engine block...
toyota even is doing magnesium castings (with steel sleeves) on some of its engines now... lightening the cars even further...
DriftPunch @ Oct 16th 2006 2:32PM
I thought all sleeves were made of cast iron?
rwdmtparkingonly @ Oct 16th 2006 2:56PM
Your comments: "the new Range Rover will be the first all-alloy, monocoque-bodied 4x4 when it debuts in 2010" - The AUDI A8 has been an all alloy 4x4 for a number of years now. One might argue that the A8 is awd, not a true 4x4 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4x4), but that argument would also apply to the modern Range Rover. The old Defenders had aluminum bodies but steel frames. There may have been some dramatic advances in magnesium metallurgy, but the old horizontal-four VW magnesium blocks always cracked.
Tim UF @ Oct 16th 2006 3:18PM
steel = iron with carbon dissolved in it
Trevor @ Oct 16th 2006 4:30PM
rwdmtparkingonly-
You're taking quite a leap placing an A8 and a Range Rover both as 4x4 vehicles. The modern Range Rover you speak of has a low-range transfer case. The A8 does not.
A8= AWD
Range Rover= 4x4
Fabulo @ Oct 16th 2006 4:50PM
"...and return even better fuel economy."
like 14/19 (v6) or 14/18 (v8) for an LR3? Is that good? Last time I checked, it was abysmall. Then again, when you shell out 40+ grands for a 5000+ lbs road monster, you don't care about mileage.
Adn yes, that's the extra wimpy driver special EPA mileage number. Give me an LR3 for an afternoon, I promise not to break 10 mpg:)
D_X @ Oct 16th 2006 8:39PM
that actually took a whole five minutes? =P
Frank Filipponio @ Oct 16th 2006 8:47PM
Well, the search took 3.
Tool @ Oct 16th 2006 8:51PM
It would have to be a significant weight savings that would translate into significant fuel economy improvements . . . consumers have proven that they are unwilling to pay alot more for an all- or mostly aluminum vehicle.
Steve Parker @ Oct 16th 2006 11:53PM
Land Rover's body panels have been aluminum since at least 1970.
doublesnap @ Oct 19th 2006 3:09PM
Hmm, but losing weight also affects taxes
Apparently the Range Rover weighs enough to qualify for substantial a tax break when used for small business purposes, Land Rover has a lot of info up online about it.
Sounds like a great deal, I wouldn't want to miss out on it.