Report: Land Rover to adopt Jaguar’s RS performance brand to make own performance SUVs, Evoque RS is expected first
Much like automotive safety, automotive performance and sportiness sells, obviously, with many automobile manufacturers striving to reach out to the younger markets by making their automobiles…sportier. This shouldn’t be a surprise as many of these said automobile manufacturers have been introducing “high performance” brands within their stable.
Notable examples include BMW’s M Division, Mercedes-Benz AMG, and to a lesser but growing extent, Jaguar and their R and RS models. That said, we’ve seen some pretty interesting concoctions, many of which still don’t make any sense. These examples include balls-out high performance variants of two-plus ton SUVs that many of us have come to strangely fall in love with. And to add to the mixture, AutoCarUK reports that Land Rover may adopt their sister company’s performance brand, Jaguar’s RS, to produce some uber-performance SUVs of their own.
[slider id=174833]
[slider id=164145]
As of now, Land Rover will be revealing a high-performance RS version of its Evoque first, with a predicted timeframe sometime by the end of this year. But furthermore, spy shots have been floating around the Interwebs of what seems to be a Range Rover Sport RS test mule in the works.
Because of Land Rover’s current partnership with Jaguar under Tata Motors, speculation confidently points at the use of Jaguar’s already ubiquitous AJ-V8 that sees duty in many Land Rover and Jaguar models of today. Some “sources” have even claimed a power figure of around 542hp is estimated for the supposed Range Rover Sport RS, which is the same output as Jaguar’s XKR-S, XFR-S, and XJR. A 0-60 time of around 4.5 seconds is estimated. Chassis and suspension modifications are included and have been said to focus on the active anti-roll bars and air suspension. Upgraded brakes are expected as well.
As for the Evoque RS, a 2.0L turbocharged four-banger will provide power delivery duties with an estimated rating of around 300hp. The same sort of sport tuning for the body and suspension are expected as well.
A timeframe for the Range Rover Sport RS is hovers in the vicinity of next year.
– By: Chris Chin
Source: AutoCarUK