Although an official announcement has yet to be made, Autocar has learned that Jaguar Land Rover will launch a new model line beginning in 2019 called the Road Rover, with a premium, luxury all-electric model to arrive first. One of its primary targets? The Mercedes-Benz S-Class, at least in terms of outright luxury. As for the EV part? Obviously the bull's-eye is Tesla, as well as Porsche's upcoming Mission E, which is also due to launch around the same time. The Road Rover will be targeted to mainly US and Chinese buyers, but it won't be a sedan.

Instead, it'll be more wagon-like and feature "all-terrain" capabilities. At the same time, it'll offer dynamic on-road performance that modern EVs, mainly Teslas, are known for. What's for certain is that the Road Rover won't come cheap; Autocar has it pegged at around 90,000 GBP for feature-packed versions. Land Rover is planning an entire Road River lineup that'll consist of "more car-like and road-friendly, but still rugged, vehicles." This also isn't the first time Land Rover has used the Road Rover name. Back in the 1950s it was applied to a concept that was a "bridge" between Rover cars and Land Rovers.

It popped again a decade later as a three-door wagon concept that, eventually, became the Range Rover. And because this is Jaguar Land Rover, the Road Rover's EV platform will be put to further use in the next generation XJ large luxury sedan; both vehicles are being developed simultaneously. We could see the first Road Rover, at least in concept form, make an appearance as early as this March at Geneva and, if all goes well, a production version within the next year or so.