Land Rover To Lighten Up With Planned Switch to Aluminum
According to British car magazine, Autocar, Land Rover is considering switching over its top of the line Range Rover sport utility vehicle to a new rivet-bonded aluminum monocoque chassis. With the reincarnated (BMW-designed) Range Rover, the brand made a switch to a combination monocoque-ladder frame chassis; crafting it out of aluminum would be the next step.
The rivet-bonding technology that would be featured in the chassis would be borrowed from Jaguar, which currently employs it in its XJ sedan and XK Coupe. The use of aluminum could help to lighten the Range Rover by some 500 kilograms, reducing the curb weight from around 2,700 kg to 2,200 kg. This would reduce the load put on the engine, allowing it to accelerate better, improve its currently dreadful fuel consumption, and cut back on emissions.
Land Rover would have some serious planning to do if it were to adopt an aluminum monocoque chassis. Due to the high cost of engineering and development, it would need to be used on more than one vehicle. This of course is no problem, considering the LR3 and Range Rover Sport would be in need of an update by the time the next Range Rover rolls around (2010, or so). Sounds like it would be a plan of consolidation, if they go through with it.