Range Rover Sport SVR finally revealed

LAND ROVER has revealed its fastest and most powerful vehicle, the Range Rover Sport SVR, ahead of its global debut on Thursday at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in the United States.

Land Rover confirmed that its super SUV has a 0-100km/h time of 4.7 seconds and a top speed limited electronically to 260km/h, making the Range Rover Sport SVR the quickest in the British brand's history.

Lurking under the bonnet of the SVR is the same 404kW/680Nm 5.0-litre supercharged V8 found in sister company Jaguar's F-Type R, matched with the latest eight-speed automatic transmission.

The Range Rover Sport SVR made its first official public appearance in June at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the United Kingdom where it roared its way up the hill climb course – but that was a prototype. The Pebble Beach motoring event will introduce the production version to the world.

The Range Rover Sport SVR – which stands for Special Vehicle Racing – is the first product to come out of the company’s new high-performance division, Jaguar Land Rover Special Operations.

Starting with a regular 2015 Range Rover Sport as a base platform, the Special Operations mission was to create an SUV that performs like a sportscar.

In July it seemed like a case of mission accomplished with Land Rover claiming its Range Rover Sport SVR had completed a lap of Germany’s Nurburgring Nordschleife circuit in 8 minutes and 14 seconds, making it the fastest lap ever for a production SUV ahead of Porsche’s Macan Turbo that previously nailed the ‘Green Hell’ in 8:15.

The 2015 Range Rover Sport has an all-aluminium moncoque which reduces its weight by 39 percent when compared with the outgoing model. The SVR is even lighter thanks to its aluminium suspension, which is fully independent with wide-spaced double wishbones up front and a multi-link set-up in the rear.

With the prototype camouflage removed, the SVR’s body changes compared with the regular Sport are subtle, with a larger lower grille and air intakes the most obvious changes. The company said that exterior modifications were made to improve cooling and aerodynamics.

The SVR sits on 21-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 275/45 R21 tyres front and back, but for a more extreme look customers can option 22-inch wheels with 295/40 R22 Continental SportContact 5 rubber.

Land Rover Special Operations managing director John Edwards says his team has taken an already capable sports SUV to the next level.

“A thorough range of revisions specially developed by Land Rover's Special Vehicle Operations combine to make this premium derivative even more distinctive both inside and out, as well as taking its dynamic capabilities to the next level without impacting on comfort, refinement or all-terrain versatility,” Mr Edwards said.

“The Range Rover Sport SVR is truly the world's most capable performance SUV."While the Indian-owned British brand is pushing the performance angle, it is also keen to highlight the SVR's off-road ability. It features a full-time four-wheel drive system with a two-speed transfer case and 50/50 torque-split front to rear, and there is also a low range option for difficult terrain.

When you are not lapping the Nurburgring in record time, the SVR can cross rivers up to a depth of 850mm using its Wade Sensing system which measures water height, and true to its Land Rover roots, the SVR can tow if the situation arises with towing capacity of 3000kg.

The 2015 Range Rover Sport is available to order this month with deliveries expected for November, however the SVR is expected to roll into local showrooms in March 2015.

Pricing for the SVR in the United Kingdom will start from £93,450 ($A168,914), but Australian pricing is still to be determined.