Range Rover all-electric utility vehicle may challenge Tesla Model X

Well, add one more name to the queue of luxury carmakers planning to compete head-to-head with Tesla Motors and its electric cars.

According to Britain’s Autocar, Range Rover is now in the planning stages for a crossover vehicle that could target the upcoming Tesla Model X electric SUV.

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The British company, which provides the bulk of the sales for Jaguar Land Rover, is in the midst of expanding its lineups of Land Rover and luxury Range Rover utility vehicles.

The success of its sleek, compact crossover Range Rover Evoque model has convinced JLR that the Range Rover name can be applied to a broader range of vehicle types than the rugged, rock-scaling, tree-climbing off-roaders it has traditionally offered.

The all-electric Range Rover, Autocar says, would be roughly the size of a Jaguar XJ sedan and aimed at wealthy multi-car households in both China and North America.

What’s been described as an “incredibly luxurious, low-slung” Range Rover crossover would include a very high specification and multiple high-tech features, letting it justify a price even above the top of the Model X lineup, the article suggests.

But like similar vehicles that have been suggested by Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, and Audi, an all-electric Range Rover–and potentially a separate Jaguar model sharing the same underpinnings–would not be designed as a dedicated electric car.

Instead, it would be adapted from a vehicle that also offered gasoline, diesel, and probably plug-in hybrid powertrains as well.

Tesla, which only makes electric cars, uses a purpose-built structure with a large, flat battery pack under the passenger compartment and a drive motor mounted between the two rear wheels.

It also recently introduced a “Dual Drive” all-wheel-drive variant, using motors of different sizes powering the front and rear axles.

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None of these all-electric vehicles from high-end luxury makers is likely to hit the market before 2016 at the earliest, and most will likely appear only toward the end of the decade.

And it’s worth noting that Tesla still has to bring its own Model X to market after numerous delays.

Still, direct competition planned by effectively all the major luxury makers in the world underscores just what a revolutionary effect Tesla has had on the world’s auto industry.

This story originally appeared on Green Car Reports. Copyright 2014

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