2023 Land Rover Range Rover SUV bags best car design award

Priced from R2 million and boasting a three-litre turbodiesel engine, the new Land Rover Range Rover has claimed the annual Car Design award.

Selected by a distinguished panel of judges as well as design leaders from various companies like Lamborghini, Volvo, and Lucid, the SUV is praised for its reductive design.

CarMag reports that the jurors decided that Range Rover is the winner because of the way it combines a modern luxury aesthetic with an iconic form that links the new vehicle to its unrivalled 50-year lineage.

The United Kingdom-based car maker also clinched multiple awards, including best Colour, Materials, and Finish (CMF), and Team prize jointly awarded to Range Rover SV and Defender, while Jaguar Land Rover’s Ken Gan claimed the Undiscovered Talent award.

“The fifth-generation luxury SUV takes Land Rover’s modernist design philosophy to the next level, with a contemporary interpretation of its trademark profile to create an incredible design statement. It continues to lead, bringing breathtaking modernity, aesthetic grace, and sophistication to Land Rover’s latest flagship,” reports the automobile news portal.

“The New Range Rover is defined by three lines that can trace their origins back through the generations – the falling roofline, strong waistline, and rising sill line. These trademark features combine with a characteristically short front overhang and a distinctive new boat tail rear, complete with a practical split tailgate to create an elegant profile that conveys Range Rover’s peerless presence.”

Speaking for Range Rover, professor Gerry McGovern OBE, Chief Creative Officer, Jaguar Land Rover, said the car is the original luxury SUV and a vehicle of peerless distinction.

“New Range Rover’s exceptional form embodies modern luxury, and its elegant proportions and optimised volumes are hallmarks of our Reductive Design philosophy,” he said.

“This approach was introduced with the Velar in 2017 and is now familiar across our Range Rover family.”

The fifth-generation Range Rover was the clear winner among the shortlisted vehicles, all of which were launched between April 2021 and September 2022.

More Facts About The Range Rover:

Price: From R2 996 600

Engine: 3,0-litre, inline-six, turbodiesel

Transmission: 8-speed automatic

Power: 258 kW@ 4 000 r/min

Torque: 700 N.m @ 1 500–3 000 r/min

0–100 km/h: 6,1 seconds

Top speed: 234 km/h

Fuel consumption: 7,4 L/100km