Wait a minute. Another new Range Rover? Jaguar Land Rover is aiming to reduce emissions and make all of their vehicles electric by 2020, and they’ve taken a good step in that direction with the new Range Rover Sport PHEV – only six years after originally announcing it.
The Range Rover Sport PHEV will retail for $78,300, and is powered by a 2.0-liter petrol engine coupled with an 85kw electric motor. Together, they put out a solid 398 horsepower (296 for the engine and 102 for the electric) and 472 foot-pounds of torque – which may not be quite what the new Range Rover SVR is capable of producing, but for a hybrid SUV, isn’t too shabby. O-60 clocks in at 6.3 seconds, and speed tops out at 137 MPH. When running on just the electric motor, the 13.1-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack – mounted below the load bay – has a range of 31 miles (more than the hybrid BMW X5), and the battery can be fully charged in less than 2 hrs, 45 minutes. Land Rover, of course, now includes a mobile app that allows you to check the status of the battery as it charges; the charging port is conveniently hidden beneath the Land Rover badge on the grille.
A mobile app isn’t the only high-tech this SUV offers, though: it also comes with the new Touch Pro Duo infotainment system, which Land Rover touts as a “twin high-definition touchscreen digital butler”, and the most advanced to date. A gesture sunblind help keeps the sun out of your eyes, there’s all the usual safety features, and an advanced tow assist. And on the outside, the brand-new-for-2018 facelift is complemented by pixel-laser LED headlights.
Again, the PHEV retails for a whopping $78,300. But if you’re ready to make the leap to a hybrid without giving up the SUV and Range Rover we all love, it will soon enough be your only choice. It’ll be available summer 2018.
