As the summer season descends upon Britain, so does one of its great traditions: the Wimbledon tennis tournament. This year, two great British icons will join together: Wimbledon and Range Rover, which assumes the role of Official Vehicle of the tournament.
The Wimbledon tournament -- or as it is formally known, simply "The Championships" -- is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world, played outdoors on grass courts. It's one of the four Grand Slam events in the sport, alongside the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open. This year, Range Rovers will take on the roles of transportation around the event.
The event is sponsored by Range Rover only, a continuation of JLR's "House of Brands" concept, which has seen Land Rover progressively divided into three brands over the past year for marketing purposes. Off-road and younger lifestyle events are now sponsored by Defender; ultra-luxury and higher-end events like Wimbledon are supported by Range Rover; and Discovery, currently in the marketing wilderness, doesn't seem to sponsor much of anything at the moment.
At Wimbledon, Range Rovers will serve all sorts of purposes around the venue, the All England Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club in the southwest of London. With the short distances to be covered in the urban setting, the Range Rovers and Range Rover Sports used will all be plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants, which will be capable of running on electric power only for the entire tournament with their up to 75 miles of battery-only range. The venue has a renewable power plant, and thus, the on-site vehicle charging will be carbon neutral, in line with Wimbledon's goals.
The vehicles will be used to transport players, officials, and teams around the venue and the city. The intent is to do as many trips as possible in EV mode, but the gasoline motor provides a backup when needed, so the tournament can continue to move along smoothly.
Though there has been some support by the overarching Land Rover brand in the past at Wimbledon, this year, Range Rover takes center court as it builds an independent identity. Wimbledon runs from July 1 to July 14 this year, and Range Rover branding will likely be noticeable even for TV viewers in America.
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