2024 Range Rover Velar revealed

On sale Spring 2023 | Price from £54,045

As any fashion designer will tell you, sometimes style sells more than substance. So, while the Range Rover Velar might not be as capable off-road as its larger SUV siblings, the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, its coupé-SUV profile makes it even more attractive to some large SUV shoppers. And now, thanks to a raft of updates, Land Rover hopes its mid-range offering will be more appealing than ever.

The first major change is to the Velar’s infotainment system. This is now headed by a single 11.4in touchscreen through which climate, media, seat heating and navigation settings are all controlled, and it also looks after wireless smartphone mirroring via in-built Android Auto and Apple CarPlay software. The Velar's system copies the look of the system in the Range Rover Sport, but it has a smaller screen and omits physical climate controls.

The Velar's new system is mounted higher up the in dashboard than before, and almost every function is at most two screen taps away from the home screen. This should make the system less distracting to use on the move than the previous set-up.

Meanwhile, changes to the Velar's exterior include new 3D-effect LED rear lights, optional ‘Pixel LED’ headlights and a new rear bumper that has been redesigned for a sleeker look.

Also changing is the size of the battery in the P400e plug-in hybrid variant, which has increased from 17.1kWh to 19.2kWh, enabling the Velar to travel up to 40 miles on electric power alone, based on official figures.

This is still a shorter range than the 54 miles officially managed by the BMW X5 plug-in hybrid but improves upon the 33-mile range of the outgoing Velar. The P400e will be the pick of the Velar range for company car drivers, because it attracts the lowest company car tax of any engine in the range.

As for other engines, our favourite in the outgoing car was the D200 mild-hybrid diesel, and it’s likely that it will continue to be our favourite in the new car; it’s the cheapest in the range but should still combine punchy performance with good economy and decent refinement. A more powerful diesel engine will remain available, as will two petrol engines, but these are more expensive to both buy and run.

Prices for the updated Range Rover Velar start from £54,045, which is slightly higher than you'll pay for entry-level variants of the BMW X4 or Mercedes GLC Coupé, which start from £52,040 and £50,965 respectively.

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