Leading with pedigree, Range Rover promotes plug-in SUV

October 3, 2024

A campaign featuring English actor Theo James and the British automaker JLR-owned luxury auto brand’s first all-electric model launches this month across global markets. Image credit: JLR

By Amirah Keaton

British automaker JLR’s Range Rover is turning to star power to amplify its electric vehicle ambitions.

Taking to the wheel to showcase the third-generation Sport SUV, the brand is out with a new project that stars English actor Theo James, known for his roles in movies such as “Divergent” and television shows including HBO’s “The White Lotus: Sicily.” The campaign launches across Range Rover’s markets worldwide this month.

“Range Rover Sport is dramatic, visceral and uncompromising – a British luxury sports SUV with attitude, aligned perfectly to Theo James, both in his character in ‘The Gentleman’ and also off‑screen, where Theo is the proud owner of a Range Rover Sport plug‑in electric hybrid,” said Geraldine Ingham, global managing director at Range Rover, in a statement.

“Vigorous and playful by nature, expect pockets of British eccentricity in the upcoming campaign.”

Unmistakably British
As Range Rover evolves its fleet, it is tapping the Emmy Award nominee to help promote its plug-in hybrid options, taking to the Harewood House country estate in West Yorkshire for the shoot.

The campaign features the new Range Rover Sport PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle), the design of which combines the powerful performance the brand is known for with the environmental consciousness increasingly demanded by consumers.

The British actor and producer drives the third-generation Range Rover Sport in a new global campoaign

Boasting a Velocity Blue exterior that is now available to clients, the P510e model Mr. James is seen driving throughout the ads is not only one of the most powerful variants in the Range Rover Sport lineup but also one of its most efficient.

Its electric range caters to both urban commuters and long-distance drivers, a facet demonstrated by the campaign’s star navigation of diverse terrains throughout the production that works to highlight both the rugged capabilities and refined luxury of the vehicle.

At the heart of the campaign, however, lies the company’s differentiating proposition: it into what Range Rover calls an "unmistakably British lineage." From the estate it uses as a set to the thoroughbreds and pedigree pets it opts to include – Mr. James begins the film with a ball in hand and ends it greeting his’ Irish Wolfhound at his doorstep – the notion is woven throughout the visuals and messaging.

“The Range Rover Sport epitomizes incredible British design with unrivalled driving capability,” said Mr. James, in a statement.

“Combine that with a plug‑in electric hybrid engine that gives me 50 miles of electric range with zero carbon emissions and enough space to squeeze my unruly family into and we have a clear winner.

“Delicious.”

Electric campaign
In 2021, JLR reached a milestone and celebrated more than one million worldwide sales of the Range Rover Sport (see story).

Now, like many luxury automakers, the company is laser-focused on transitioning toward a more sustainable future, bringing one of its most popular luxury cars along for the ride, promising to deliver its first fully electric Range Rover this year (see story).

lieThe Range Rover Sport is available in a new Velocity Blue exterior colorway. Image credit: JLR

“The Range Rover Sport line‑up offers clients a breadth of capability unlike any other – dynamically peerless on‑road, with the confidence to go‑anywhere and built in from over 70 years of off‑road innovation,” said Ms. Ingham, in a statement.

“The campaign sees Theo drive the Range Rover Sport Autobiography in Velocity Blue across a British estate, in a tongue‑in‑cheek production with a hint of Range Rover's British humour which we hope will resonate with our audiences globally.”

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