Jaguar Land Rover has made a few changes to its Range Rover Sport line-up, giving the rip-snorting SVR even more power and adding a new plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) model.
Other updates to the range include “an enhanced design” (with new head- and tail-lamps and fresh bumper designs) and new technology, such as the new Touch Pro Duo infotainment system with two high-definition 10-inch touchscreens and a gesture-controlled sunblind.
Land Rover South Africa has confirmed that the updated Range Rover Sport is destined for our shores, but says the launch date and pricing will be confirmed “at a future date”.
Badged P400e (falling in with the automaker’s new naming strategy), the PHEV variant is Jaguar Land Rover’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, combining a 2,0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium petrol engine with an 85 kW electric motor (housed in the ZF automatic eight-speed transmission). Total system outputs come in at 297 kW and 640 N.m, which translates to a claimed 0-100 km/h time of 6,7 seconds and a maximum speed of 220 km/h.
The all-wheel-drive Range Rover Sport P400e has a CO2 emissions figure of 64 g/km (and a claimed fuel economy of just 2,8 L/100 km) and offers an all-electric range of up to 51 km. Drivers can select from two driving modes: Parallel Hybrid mode and EV mode.
So, what about that updated 5,0-litre supercharged V8 SVR variant? Well, the flagship performance model’s power is up to 423 kW (from 405 kW) and its torque is up to 700 N.m (from 680 N.m), which makes it two-tenths faster to 100 km/h at a claimed 4,5 seconds. The Whitley-based automaker furthermore says the increased use carbon-fibre (including for the bonnet construction) makes the new SVR “more agile” than before.
The rest of the engine line-up includes the 2,0-litre SD4 (177 kW), 3,0-litre TDV6 (190 kW), 3,0-litre SDV6 (225 kW), 4,4-litre SDV8 (249 kW), 2,0-litre Si4 (221 kW), 3,0-litre V6 supercharged (250 kW/279 kW) and 5,0-litre V8 supercharged (386 kW).
