According to CAR’s latest spy shots, the new Range Rover Sport looks set to crib much of its styling inspiration from the entry-level Range Rover Evoque.
With much of the heavy cladding gone and only shrink-wrapped tape remaining, we can now see the new Range Sport will move away from its bluff Range Rover brother’s physique, and toward a sleeker, sharper exterior.
Yes, at long last Land Rover looks to have differentiated between its two biggest, and poshest, cars.
Which Evoque cues will the new Range Rover Sport adopt up front?
Firstly, look at the high-set front grille: twin rows of closely arranged hexagons. That’s an Evoque trademark we first saw on the 2007 LRX concept car. The headlights wrap around into the front wing (like the new Range Rover) but the slimmer profile is Evoque-biased too.
On the front bumper, the Sport ditches the Range Rover’s two low-set grilles, and gains a pair of foglights like those set into fake intakes on, you’ve guessed it, the Evoque. And you’ll have spotted the thick-set front sump guard-cum bumper, which you can spec in silver or black on Evoques.
And how about the back, any clues there?
The rear has recognisable Evoque-isms too: note the wraparound rear lights, stacked shorter than the new flagship Rangie‘s, and the steeply raked D-pillars. The high-mounted rear spoiler helps accentuate the illusion of a tapering roofline.
Ready for one more game of spot-the-Evoque? Check out the boxy rear bumper, with integrated exhausts. It could’ve come straight from CAR editor Phil McNamara’s long-term test Evoque, albeit upscaled a size.
What isn’t Evoque-ish about the new Range Sport?
We’ve spotted at least one carry-over detail from the outgoing car. Ignore the vertical tape on the driver’s door that cunningly copies the ‘vent’ motif of the Range Rover. Look closely and you’ll spot, just ahead of it, the outline of a wing-mounted vent, exactly where the current RRS carries it.
Expect to see the revealed Range Rover Sport in March 2013, priced from around £50,000.
>> Is Land Rover right to give the new RRS such a liberal dollop of Evoque design? Tell us your opinion by clicking ‘Add your comment’ below