James Kon
The New Range Rover Sport made its worldwide debut with the ultimate challenge: a world’s-first climb up a flooded dam spillway in Iceland yesterday.
The launch was streamed live globally, and showcased a video demonstrating the prowess of the New Range Rover Sport and its dynamic capability over 17 kilometres of “impossible” terrain.
Viewers watched as the New Range Rover Sport resisted the surging torrents of water flowing down the ramp of the Karahnjukar Dam – the largest of its kind in the world – at a rate of 750 tonnes per minute.
A loss of traction risked the vehicle plunging down a perilous 90-metre drop at the base of the spillway to the valley floor below.
The New Range Rover Sport represents the third generation of Land Rover’s luxury performance SUV.
It is the most technologically advanced and capable yet, mixing an imposing road presence with instinctive driving responses using an advanced combination of chassis technologies.
The successful spillway ascent was screened for the first time at an exclusive launch event at Jaguar Land Rover’s Advanced Product Creation Centre in Gaydon, United Kingdom.
Official James Bond stunt driver Jessica Hawkins was behind the wheel as the New Range Rover Sport demonstrated its grip, traction and performance by completing the latest in a series of driving challenges for Land Rover’s luxury performance SUV.
Previous driving feats include a record-setting hill-climb at Pikes Peak, a first recorded crossing of the ‘Empty Quarter’ desert in the Arabian Peninsula and a first ascent of the 999 steps to Heaven’s Gate in China in 2018.
The New Range Rover Sport is based on Land Rover’s advanced, flexible Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA-Flex), which provides the foundation for its superior dynamics and peerless refinement.
Its line-up of powerful and efficient powertrains include two six-cylinder extended range Electric Hybrid plug-ins, which provide a pure-electric driving range of up to 113 kilometres and CO2 emissions as low as 18 grammes per kilometre.
The new 530PS V8 Twin Turbo provides sports car performance, with zero to 100 kilometres per hour in as little as 4.5 seconds with Dynamic Launch engaged.
Customers can also choose from powerful and efficient mild hybrid petrol and diesel Ingenium engines, while pure-electric propulsion will be available in 2024, as Land Rover continues its electrification journey.
