Land Rover shelves plans to launch £240,000 two-door model

Land Rover has axed plans to launch its £240,000 Range Rover SV Coupé, an ultra-luxury two-door model that was due to go up against the likes of the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Bentley Bentayga.

The decision has been taken as Land Rover instead chooses to divert resources towards regular production models, including the next-generation Discovery Sport and Defender models it plans to reveal this year.

The 5.0-litre supercharged V8-powered SV Coupé was set to be the most expensive and exclusive Range Rover model yet made, with production limited to 999 units. None of those ordered were ever made or delivered after the model was revealed and confirmed for production at the Geneva motor show last March.

Cancelled: the great cars axed before launch

A Land Rover statement read: “We have taken the difficult decision to inform our customers that the Range Rover SV Coupé will not proceed into production. Instead, Land Rover is focusing its resources and investment on the next generation of world-class products.

“With exciting plans for electrification, enhanced craftsmanship, innovation and technology we are working to ensure that we continue to offer our customers a choice of world leading SUVs.”

Range rover coupe 2986

The decision is a blow for JLR’s Special Vehicle Operations unit: the car was due to be the first model to be built from the ground up at SVO’s Technical Centre in Coventry. While the XE-derived Jaguar Project 8 SVO also builds started with a standard Jaguar XE body before then being modified, SVO created a unique body for the SV Coupé.

It was to use the platform of a standard Range Rover with minor modifications and then its own bodyshell on top of that. The only remaining parts from a standard Range Rover were the bonnet and the lower half of the tailgate.

“Our Special Vehicle Operations division is continuing to develop exciting cars that push the boundaries of luxury, performance and capability – the all-new Jaguar F-Pace SVR is weeks away from its first deliveries and we have many more new models in development,” the Land Rover statement continued.

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Mark is a journalist with more than a decade of top-level experience in the automotive industry. He first joined Autocar in 2009, having previously worked in local newspapers. He has held several roles at Autocar, including news editor, deputy editor, digital editor and his current position of editor, one he has held since 2017.

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RednBlue 30 January 2019

Obvious decision

Obvious decision, as there weren't 999 idiots willing to pay 240k for that s*** of a car, worth probably less than half than that. 

No wonder JLR is in dire straits. Products were too much hyped here, while most of them were average at best. So long, Range SV Coupè, you won't be missed. 

jonboy4969 31 January 2019

RednBlue wrote:

RednBlue wrote:

Obvious decision, as there weren't 999 idiots willing to pay 240k for that s*** of a car, worth probably less than half than that. 

No wonder JLR is in dire straits. Products were too much hyped here, while most of them were average at best. So long, Range SV Coupè, you won't be missed. 

 

Perhaps you should follow it and go away as well, because clearly you have no idea at all.

TStag 30 January 2019

Given the Bentley SUV is a

Given the Bentley SUV is a flop then this is a smart move by JLR!

astonandy 30 January 2019

You are clearly horribly

You are clearly horribly misinformed. Bentayga for all its questionable aesthetics is a runaway success with a successor and a second model-line planned. Where are you getting your facts from? Donald Trump? 

pauld101 31 January 2019

Not exactly...

astonandy wrote:

You are clearly horribly misinformed. Bentayga for all its questionable aesthetics is a runaway success with a successor and a second model-line planned. Where are you getting your facts from? Donald Trump? 

Bentley Bentayga 2018 UK & EU car sales

September   55

October      40

November   23

Source: carsalesbase.com/european-car-sales-data/bentley/bentley-bentayga/

To achieve the promised 6k per annum, they'd need to be doing about 170/month.

So, not exactly "a runaway success", then...

... by the way, where are you getting your "facts" from?

Steviebcfc 31 January 2019

The body shell wasn't even

The body shell wasn't even being built by JLR a small company in Coventry were building it and they have been shit on from a great height disgraceful behaviour by JLR
jonboy4969 31 January 2019

Steviebcfc wrote:

Steviebcfc wrote:

The body shell wasn't even being built by JLR a small company in Coventry were building it and they have been shit on from a great height disgraceful behaviour by JLR

 

oleae do expand on that as SVO were given the go ahead to produce shells made by hand, with the assistance and tech knowledge of JLR Classic.

jonboy4969 31 January 2019

TStag wrote:

TStag wrote:

Given the Bentley SUV is a flop then this is a smart move by JLR!

 

No it is not, all the Bentayga's that have been built have been sold, Bentley ONLY make cars to order and have beaten all sales predictions for the car.

Chris C 30 January 2019

CSK again

Back in the 90's Land Rover did a limited run of 200 CSK 2 door Range Rovers when the original version was on runout - they couldn't sell them then either....

100 miles south of Gaydon HQ puts you on the dynamic enterprising Isle of Wight.... Putting an HQ away from the manufacturing plants (as British Leyland did with London) is a guarantee of disaster.

Hand assembled cars need not be unreliable, especially if parts are made using low cost/low volume technology.

With Cullinan and Bentayga (the latter not selling well?) the super luxury SUV sector is getting rather crowded.

jonboy4969 31 January 2019

Chris C wrote:

Chris C wrote:

Back in the 90's Land Rover did a limited run of 200 CSK 2 door Range Rovers when the original version was on runout - they couldn't sell them then either....

100 miles south of Gaydon HQ puts you on the dynamic enterprising Isle of Wight.... Putting an HQ away from the manufacturing plants (as British Leyland did with London) is a guarantee of disaster.

Hand assembled cars need not be unreliable, especially if parts are made using low cost/low volume technology.

With Cullinan and Bentayga (the latter not selling well?) the super luxury SUV sector is getting rather crowded.

 

Rubbish, all CSKs sold within the specified time scale given by LR, and today are very rarely available and command hge prices