Today Land Rover launches the all-new Range Rover Sport at the New York Auto Show and the company’s official press release announces that this is ‘The fastest, most agile, most responsive Land Rover ever’ – presumably until the next model is released!
Anyway there is no denying that the first ‘Sport’ version of the venerable Range Rover has been a great sales success for the company having sold over 380,000 units since it was launched back in 2005. The car has become the de facto set of wheels for any aspiring celebrity, Premiership footballer and for a time it seemed that very builder/property developer in England was driving one!
The new model is less of a chopped-roof version of its big brother and more of an individual car in the model line-up now. There are obvious hints at the Evoque and in some respects the new car seems more closely related to that model – in fact you could properly describe the new Sport as a butch version of the Evoque.
Initially the Sport will be offered with two engine options: the glorious 5.0 Supercharged 510ps V8 and a 3.0 SDV6 292ps diesel lump. In early 2014 there will be a 3.0 258ps SDV6 (presumably for an-entry level version) and a 4.4 339ps SDV8 added to the choice of powerplants. There is talk of a hybrid making an appearance in 2014 too.
The fastest model will do the sprint to 60 mph in around 5 seconds and according to the company fuel consumption is improved across the range by up to 24%. CO2 emissions are kept low too.
Oh yes, and because of the revised suspension the car can now travel off-road at speeds up 50 mph so you can now hone your rally driving skills for the next Dakar run.
Mum’s looking for a new school-run bus can add a cheer too because the new Sport comes with 5+2 seating. In other words there is room for two little one’s in the boot.
The new Sport is due to arrive in UK showrooms in the last quarter of this year but official pricing is yet to be confirmed. Of course it will be more expensive than the out-going model but cheaper than the bigger Rangie. We expect list price to start at around £60k. We also expect long waiting lists for the Sport since the new model is likely to ride on the back of the success of its big brother.
If you are interested in placing an order for the new Range Rover Sport give The Car Spy a call on 01732 760699 or email sales@thecarspy.net
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