Dubai: The second component of Land Rover’s plans to dominate the high-end SUV market has just been delivered in the form of the all-new Range Rover Sport.
Carrying a price tag upwards of Dh379,000 the latest generation model – historically the best-selling nameplate within the carmaker’s portfolio in these markets – had its launch on Tuesday night through the local importer, Al Tayer Motors.
The Sport goes on sale from August onwards. The UAE happens to be the top market for the Sport and followed by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
“In the region, the Range Rover Sport has consistently been our best-selling model within the Land Rover portfolio,” said Justin Weaving, regional sales director at Jaguar Land Rover. “Year-on-year sales have matched continued customer demand and even in its final year of production we outperformed our previous year’s sales results. We expect demand of the All-New Range Rover Sport to mirror that of the flagship all-new Range Rover.”
It was in October last that the flagship, the fourth-generation Range Rover, was rolled out in the UAE. It also starts at Dh379,000 and according to Al Tayer Motors’ CEO Ashok Khanna, current delivery times currently vary from seven to twelve months, depending on the specifications of the customers.
Of the flagship Range Rover, Weaving said: “We have never before experienced such strong demand for any other vehicle in the region; we are currently managing a large order bank and deliveries have begun to ramp up dramatically over the past few months with the trend expected to continue.”
Following its introduction in 2005, Range Rover Sport’s sales have exceeded 380,000 units. While the latest version is a good deal lighter - up to 420-kilogrammes helped by an all-aluminium frame - than the predecessor, it is 2.5 inches longer. (For those who are a stickler for details, the Sport has 75 per cent unique parts compared with the flagship.)
There are two petrol engine variants available - the (new) 3.0-litre 340PS V6 and 5.0-litre 510PS V8, and both supercharged by the way. That packs in enough to do the 0- to 100-kmh in under 5 second. The engines are paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. The lighter structure does allow fuel consumption to come in lower by up to 24 per cent, again dependent on the model.
There is more coming from the Jaguar Land Rover stable in the current year. “We will have a total of eight new or refreshed products planned for 2013, which will continue to maintain demand and interest from regional customers,” Weaving added.
“We have simply never had a better line up of Jaguar and Land Rover products and what you are seeing is just the beginning. The Jaguar F-TYPE has just been launched with cars starting to arrive in market and the Sport will begin to go on sale in the UAE - and across the region - as of August this year.”
