Land Rover sells the company’s flagship luxury SUV with three different powertrains in the United States. In two states of tune, with 340 horsepower or 380 and at $85,945 and $92,945, there’s the 3.0-liter supercharged V6. Priced in between, the $87,945 Range Rover is a 3.0-liter diesel V6.
At the top of the heap sits the supercharged 5.0-liter V8-powered Range Rover, which stretches from $104,190 onward and upward.
You can likely guess which one is most popular.
This is Range Rover we’re talking about, remember. So naturally the model that attracts the largest number of buyers is the top-trim, most powerful, most expensive Land Rover Range Rover V8 Supercharged.
The Range Rover is facing a great deal more competition these days. Bentley began selling the Bentayga in August. 505 copies of the $230,000-plus Bentley were sold in its first three months. The Range Rover certainly reaches into that territory. Before options, the long-wheelbase V8 Supercharged Autobiography is a $200,490 SUV. (There are paint jobs available that cost $14,500.)
Maserati is also selling a new luxury utility vehicle, the Levante, 979 of which were sold in the U.S. between August and October.
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising to then see that overall Range Rover sales are in decline in the U.S., falling 11 percent so far this year. The Range Rover’s 32 percent decrease in October translated to 580 lost sales, year-over-year.
Within the Range Rover range, that diesel option seems to be stealing some of the limelight from its supercharged V6 and supercharged V8 siblings, as well. V8 Supercharged Range Rover sales have decreased by 1,277 units so far this year, for instance. Diesel-powered Range Rover sales are up by 1,608 units.
Yet the most costly Range Rover powerplant remains the most popular, earning 48 percent of all U.S. Range Rover sales in 2016: 6,081 of the 12,748 Range Rovers sold year-to-date.
Down the Land Rover ladder, the same practice isn’t followed. The Range Rover Sport’s most popular variant is the least costly ($65,495) V6 Supercharged variant, a powerplant that earns 56 percent of all Range Rover Sport sales. For the Land Rover Discovery Sport, all of which come with the same 2.0T/nine-speed auto combo, 55 percent of buyers choose the mid-grade HSE trim.
But if you’re going to spend big money, the theory goes, why not spend big money?
The Land Rover Range Rover is America’s 74th-best-selling SUV/crossover, just behind the Infiniti QX80; just ahead of the Porsche Cayenne. Brand-wide, Land Rover USA sales are up 8 percent this year, setting a pace that should crush last year’s all-time record annual performance.
Of the 59,923 Land Rovers sold so far this year, one in five have been Range Rovers. The three-pronged Range Rover family — Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Evoque — account for more than six out of every ten Land Rover sales in America.
[Images: Land Rover]
Timothy Cain is the founder of GoodCarBadCar.net, which obsesses over the free and frequent publication of U.S. and Canadian auto sales figures. Follow on Twitter @goodcarbadcar and on Facebook.
I think the Land Rover is the ultimate “impress your neighbors” vehicle and, unlike exotic 2-seat sports cars, it is reasonably practical. It can carry 4 people and their stuff very comfortably.
The cost of impressing your neighbors has gone up substantially these days.
Or you could wait two years and buy one at Carmax with a 3 year extended warranty…blah blah blah.you get the pic..
I guess people want the better car sometimes, and don’t always buy on price. This is one reason why the expensive Tesla Model S outsells all other EVs, each costing 1/2 or 1/3 as much.
Don’t these buyers know that a 2.0L turbo 4-cylinder would provide perfectly adequate power?
Slow clap.
My only complaints are that the V8 only has 5.0L of displacement and no V12 is offered.
Pricing that if you’re going to be douche you might as well go all in.
Just lease me the top of the line model and be done with it.
$1400/mo
Mere pennies
I know, Range Rovers which don’t say Autobiography on the back are strict pleb material.
Land Rovers sales dropped by about 20% this month. I thought that sounded a bit odd until I realised most of that drop was caused by the Discovery ending production. The replacement doesn’t turn up until early next year so until the new model appears it’s worth bearing that fact in mind.
Land Rover U.S. sales were down 23% in October, but it had little to do with the LR4’s 13% YOY decrease, which was responsible for just 113 of the 1667 lost sales. Every model in the lineup was down.
I just don’t get the appeal of a Range Rover. First and foremost, it’s hideously unreliable to the point that people who don’t know anything about cars will understand the jokes we make. It doesn’t really look like anything, and plenty of cars and SUV’s have an equally comfortable ride and can get out of a patch of grass or snow.
The appeal is that they feel WAY more special than anything else out there previously. You feel like royalty driving one. It’s a vehicle that is 90% of an S-class in ride and handling while being 90% of a Jeep in off-road capability. I can see Shaguar, Maserati, and Bentley stealing some of this though. A Lexus SUV is no more special feeling than a Camry, for all their wonderful talents.
I’d never pay the ask for a new one, but my 15yo one is pretty great for about $75K less than it cost new. And they are no more unreliable at 15yo than they were when new. Possibly better, as you can get better than new parts for some of the problematical bits, like relay panels and suspension air springs. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it particularly unreliable, though it certainly has its quirks.
It’s easy to dismiss in person, but go test drive one and come back. It’s an extraordinarily refined vehicle. If cars were only on paper then everyone would be driving Land Cruisers.
As far as reliability goes, who knows with this new generation? They haven’t been out long enough to accurately tell.
“A Lexus SUV is no more special feeling than a Camry, for all their wonderful talents.”
Which Lexus? Because the interior of the latest RX is a wonderful place to be.
Range Rovers are Veblen and positional goods. The Sport is not.