► JLR develops SVX go-anywhere brand
► Special Ops team focused on Land Rover too
► Badge last seen in 2000s resurfaces
Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) department is plotting a slew of tuned Land Rovers – with a tougher stance and more extreme off-road capability, CAR magazine has learned.
To date, we’ve associated the SVO skunkworks with go-faster models and limited-run specials such as the F-type Project 7 and E-type Lightweight recreations. But the team is also developing more hardcore 4x4s, according to boss Paul Newsome.
SVX: an old name returns for harder Land Rovers
The harder Land Rovers will be badged SVX, a name last seen on the Defender in the 2000s. It’s not clear yet which models will be first to get the SVX treatment, but word is they could be the replacement Discovery and Defenders models.
JLR would then have three parallel flavours of ‘specials’: SVR for more road-biased hooning (think Range Rover Sport SVR, forthcoming Jag F-type SVR) with SVX for off-road work and SVAutobiography for seriously posh luxury. Our sources suggest you wouldn’t see both badges on one model line, although the Range Rover Sport could be an exception; the Middle East could take both.
A racing future?
SVO doesn’t have a motorsport department, but the current strategy is heading towards that being an option in future. Imagine if they got Jaguar into GT racing, and Land Rover into rally raid events such as the Dakar, complementing the Defender Challenge series and Race-To-Recovery outings.
Sounds like the fastest four-by-fours by far could be in the pipeline…