SPY PICS: Next-gen Range Rover Sport SVR

The third-generation Range Rover Sport has been spotted undergoing development in Germany, confirming the all-new British rival for Audi Q7, BMW X5 and Mercedes-Benz GLE will bring a sportier overall profile and sleeker new front-end design.

Separately in the UK this week, however, our spy shooters also snapped the all-replacement for the V8-powered Range Rover Sport SVR flagship, also wearing full-coverage camouflage.

Pictured in these exclusive new spy photos parked up next to the current Range Rover Sport SVR, the ballistic new luxury-performance SUV wears a more curvaceous body design and a larger, more contoured roof spoiler, and sits on a super-low stance and ultra-wide wheels/tyres.

Tell-tale quad exhaust outlets also confirm its red-hot performance potential, ruling out an all-electric powertrain and probably also a small-capacity combustion engine backed up by large electric motors.

However, it’s still unknown what engine will power the new Range Rover Sport SVR; it remains to be seen whether the walloping 423kW/700Nm 5.0-litre supercharged ‘AJ’ V8 in the current model, which is priced at $246,270 plus ORCs, will still be around by the time the vehicle is launched.

Last year Jaguar Land Rover confirmed the V8 would live on for now, by moving production from Ford’s engine plant to its own manufacturing facility.

This was expected to prolong the long-running powerplant’s life for another few years, to at least 2023 and perhaps even 2025 when strict the new EU7 emissions regulation comes into force.

Once the AJ V8 is put out to pasture, Jaguar and Land Rover models such as the Range Rover Sport SVR are tipped to employ BMW’s 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8.

The existing Rangie Sport is already available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain and standard versions of the new third-generation model will all be fitted with some sort of electrification – at least mild-hybrid tech.

But the British luxury SUV brand will need to keep its legion of loyal customers in the US and Middle East happy – and many of them demand V8 muscle.

Whatever engine the next-generation Range Rover Sport SVR packs, it will need enough gristle to surpass the current model’s 4.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration and 283km/h top speed if it wants to be taken seriously.

While the SVR will top the new third-generation Range Rover Sport line-up, it’s the garden variety variants that will generate the most profit for the brand and design will be pivotal to getting customers into showrooms.

Powered by a range of new inline six-cylinder engines, the new Range Rover Sport appears to show off ultra-thin LED headlights flanking a slightly massaged compact grille.

In profile, the new Range Rover Sport shows off a more aggressive roofline than the current model, tapering down towards the rear more dramatically with just a hint of Velar about it.

A larger rear spoiler and more steeply angled front and rear windscreens also deliver more athletic optics for the new model, as will rounder side and rear sheetmetal.

Unlike the original semi-monocoque platform of the original Range Rover Sport of 2005, the next Rangie Sport will continue to be based on an all-aluminium unibody construction.

It will also retain its three-row, seven-seat interior layout and may borrow a few interior items from the recently updated Jaguar F-PACE SUV, including its new Pivi Pro infotainment system with 11.4-inch curved central touch-screen.

No interior photos were taken but the new Range Rover Sport is likely to deliver an even more sumptuous cabin than before, with the potential for an ultra-large augmented reality head-up display and new heated and cooled seats featuring massage functionality.

Designed by Gerry McGovern, the current, second-generation (L494) Range Rover Sport was introduced in 2013 at the New York motor show by Daniel Craig, aka James Bond 007, followed by the SVR model a couple of years later.

With the exterior design of the new Range Rover Sport appearing to be all but locked in, it’s logical to assume the new British luxury SUV will be officially revealed some time in 2022, followed by a replacement for the bigger Range Rover flagship.