Land Rover may build an even more extreme version of its Range Rover Sport SVR if that SUV's lead engineer gets his way.
Land Rover's Ben Verrecchia told Australian magazine Motoring that the daunting task of making the 575-hp SUV even quicker than it already is will be accomplished through cutting weight rather than adding more power.
The 2018 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SVR boasts a supercharged 5.0L V8 good for 700 lb-ft of torque, with enough power to move the boxy beast from 0-100 km/h in 4.5 seconds.
Verrecchia said Land Rover already has "plenty" of SVR mules sporting a roll cage where the rear seats used to be, and is campaigning to make lightweight carbon ceramic brakes an option, too, which alone could shave about 25 kg from the car's curb weight.
All of this points to the Jaguar XE SV Project 8 serving as the inspiration for a lightened Range Rover Sport. That car retained its back seats but sported various body parts fashioned from carbon fibre to help make it the most potent version of Jag's compact sedan.
Should this ultra-light Rangie come to be, expect Land Rover's engineers and test drivers to have a hoot putting prototypes through their paces: they drove the SVR mules more than 30,000 km at its 280-km/h top speed.
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