When their current generation ends, the Range Rover Evoque and Velar will not be replaced. Instead, the much higher-positioned Range Rover GT will serve as the brand’s entry-level model.
Range Rover’s managing director Martin Limbert confirmed to the British magazine Autocar that there will be no direct replacement for the two models.
The production of the Evoque and the Velar will continue through 2027. By the end of the year, both vehicles will be at the end of their life cycles, and production will stop. The capacity at the plants where they are built will then be used for other products.
Why is JLR taking this decision?
With the Evoque and, to a lesser extent, the Velar, the Range Rover brand became more accessible, but not necessarily more profitable. And at the same time, it somewhat cannibalized the Land Rover model market, although their positioning is different.
By not continuing production of the Evoque and Velar, Range Rover will make the GT its entry model. It will be built on JLR’s ‘electric first’ Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA).
Although the final pricing for the Range Rover GT has not been announced yet, it is clear that it will be priced closer to the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, both of which are available as EVs and with combustion engines.
This means the Range Rover brand will be more upscale again, leaving room for Land Rover models such as the electric Freelander. JLR is also looking to diversify the Defender range, with a ‘baby Defender’ on the group’s EMA platform reportedly being in the works.
The new marketing strategy would position Discovery as the practical, family-oriented brand, Defender as the more rugged off-road brand, and Range Rover as the luxury brand.
But this comes with the risk of losing part of the current clientele. An Evoque customer doesn’t necessarily fit into the two more affordable brands. And a Velar buyer won’t necessarily want to increase his budget to switch to a Range Rover GT.
In Belgium, prices for the Evoque start just below 50,000 euros, while the most affordable Velar will set you back € 71.790. Speculations about the Range Rover GT’s pricing tend to hover around the €100,000 entry point.
Lower volume, higher margins
The strategy for Range Rover sounds a bit like the one JLR already applied to Jaguar, albeit less extreme. Jaguar halted its production completely, with all existing models being terminated. The focus is now on relaunching the brand with a luxury positioning, with the electric GT Type 01 as the first model.
The Range Rover brand is not getting an equally extreme reset, but it is saying goodbye to a not insignificant volume. Although sales of the Evoque and, to a greater extent, the Velar have declined, they still account for a significant share of the brand’s sales, especially in Europe.
In 2025, Range Rover sold 22,802 units of the Evoque in Europe, and 7,961 of the Velar. The combined volume of 30,800 cars accounts for about 30% of the Land Rover Group’s total sales of 106,873 in Europe. The Range Rover Sport found 26,030 European customers in 2025, and the Range Rover found 11,678.
It remains to be seen whether the volume of the soon-to-be-launched Range Rover GT and the possibly higher margins on the model justify the decision to scrap the Evoque and Velar.
