Footballers and school-run devotees rejoice: the second-generation 2013 Range Rover Sport is well on the way to completion – and this one will sport seven seats.
The new Range Rover Sport is due to arrive in late 2013, around a year after the unveiling of the all-new L405 Range Rover. 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 fairly 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 upcoming Range Rover.
Seven seats for the Range Rover Sport
The big news is that the Sport will be offered with seven seats this time. Like the Discovery, Land Rover is engineering in a third row of seats; but with a swoopier rear end, the rearmost quarters will be territory for children only.
And under the dazzle-camo skin?
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.
For more of CAR’s scoops of the 2012 Range Rover, click here.