Another Range Rover Sport has been spotted testing, with less camouflage and no disguise at all for the design of the alloy wheels. We had expected the new RRS to arrive in late 2013, but it could be seen as early as the Geneva show in March 2013 if the development schedule continues apace.
Expect the new RRS to sport a price tag somewhere around the £50,000 mark, meaning its market position won’t change much.
What details do we know about the new 2013 Range Rover Sport?
The design of the new Range Sport remains similar to the current car, but Land Rover is keen to distinguish it more from the Range Rover this time round. The new Sport (codenamed L494) will be wider and lower than the outgoing model. Our sources suggest this will give the car an overtly butch stance but expect a more coupe-esque exterior profile, with a hint of the can’t-build-them-quickly-enough-for-demand Evoque.
Judging by the masking on this prototype caught in our spy photos, it’s likely the 2013 Range Rover Sport will get wraparound headlight clusters to match those fitted to the new Range Rover.
Seven seats for the Range Rover Sport?
It had been rumoured that the new RRS would become a seven-seater, but our spy photographer is sceptical, due to the squat body dimensions around the car’s rump. There’s still a chance the car could get family bus ability, but the rearmost seats are likely to be child-only zones as opposed to the Discovery’s commodious third row.
And under the 2013 Range Sport’s bonnet?
For European customers – especially the British, who have lapped up the Range Rover Sport since it first appeared in 2005 – the staple of the engine range will be 3.0-litre V6s, including an entry-level 224bhp turbodiesel for downsizing buyers.
A continuation of the 510bhp supercharged Jaguar engine from the XFR is also possible, though it’ll be targeted at overseas markets where unleaded is plentiful and cheap…
The new Range Rover Sport will be lighter than the anvil of the current model – JLR has been working intensely on aluminium-savvy manufacturing that’ll make future Jags and Range Rovers lighter and stiffer than the current family. We’ve already seen it at work in the Range Rover, which has a structure 420kg lighter than the outgoing chassis. The same hardware underpins the new 2013 Range Rover Sport.