Range Rover commits to smaller cabin screens

RANGE ROVER is preparing to reverse a decade-long expansion in cabin screen sizing with a plan to install fewer and smaller displays now in train as a deliberate differentiator as rivals, and particular Chinese brands, continue to add ever-larger digital surfaces.

The strategy has been previewed by the interior reveal of the forthcoming Range Rover GT model that will land in Australia in 2027.

The GT’s cabin uses a single central lower-mounted central touchscreen and slim driver display in lieu of moving towards full-width screens appearing in new BMW and Mercedes-Benz models.

Range Rover global product and services marketing director Ryan Miller told GoAuto that the GT foreshadows changes being made “in a similar vein” to future versions of the brand’s more familiar nameplates, with the next-generation Evoque set to be revealed next year.

This masthead understands that passenger-side displays have been judged a low priority, while screen real estate will be subtly reduced across coming products.

However, the shift will not be accompanied by a wholesale return to tactile, physical switchgear.

Some shortcut keys will remain on steering wheel spokes but most secondary controls, such as for multimedia and climate control, will remain accessible only through the (smaller) main screen.

The decision to ‘right-size’ tech is a reversal for the British brand, which has until now participated in the industry’s near-uniform escalation. The full-size Range Rover’s main screen swelling from 8.0 inches in 2013 to dual 10-inch units in 2018, before two 13-inch monitors were adopted in the current ‘L460’ model.

Now the pendulum will swing back, though not via a complete return to analogue dashboard technologies.

Mr Miller said that Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) had also explored more screen-heavy interior concepts and had rejected them.

“Intentionally, by design, trust me, we’ve had cars with lots of screens and we’re not doing it. We’re not going there,” he said. 

“We’re looking to create a real tranquil sanctuary, an opportunity to detoxify through everyday life (with the) minimum number of screens we need to present the information that the driver needs (and) nothing more.

“When you drive for four hours, you get out and you feel better than when you got in the car.”

The shift will open up a stark contrast between future Range Rover models and key rivals from German, Japanese, and Chinese premium brands that continue to equivocate screen sizing with sophistication.

The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class and GLC Electric variants offer an optional 39.1-inch MBUX Hyperscreen that is uninterrupted between the A-pillars while Chinese marque Avatar integrates five screens into top-end models.

Range Rover’s retreat is tied to a wider effort to keep ahead of copycat rivals by altering specific queues despite retaining what the brand describes as its core “reductive” design identity.

Global Range Rover managing director Martin Limpert told GoAuto the brand regarded imitation as evidence of its global influence but stressed that it could not remain static in such circumstances.

“We see lots of (rivals) going the other way with their cabins – loaded with tech, loaded with capability, loaded with noise – visual and acoustic noise. We free our cabin from all that, and that is what makes us definitely unique,” he said.

“It is important for us to stay ‘the original’. So that’s why we’ll keep evolving.”

Mr Miller said Range Rover would not compete with newer entrants on the “number of screens and tech”.

The lower-riding, coupé-roofline GT will be the first expression of that change to hit the road, with JLR describing the cabin of the new addition to the line as using “technology woven into its architecture” and promising to reduce visual and acoustic noise.