The 2013 edition of the Frankfurt motor show, which is to take place this September, has been selected by Land Rover as the venue of choice for the unveiling of diesel-electric hybrid versions of the all-new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. The information was obtained by CarSales of Australia, which sat down with a leading engineer for the British company, Stuart Firth.
He confirmed that the aforementioned hybrid would go on sale in Europe by the end of this year, and that it’s not the only new version to be revealed in Frankfurt. The German auto show will also play host to the unveiling of a new V8 diesel-powered Sport, which will get 700 Nm (516 lb-ft) of torque.
Furthermore, while it has not been officially confirmed yet, the hybrid system will feature a three-liter V6 turbodiesel engine, which will be mated to an electric motor mounted between the engine and the gearbox, while batteries would be hidden away underneath the floor, so as not to use up any extra space, or negatively affect the driving dynamics. Firth added that the “big” Range Rover would also get the same hybrid tech at about the same time.
However, the diesel-based hybrids won’t make it to Stateside showrooms, and US buyers will have to wait for the development of powertrains using regular petrol engines.
The final piece of information concerns the most recent of the Range Rovers, the Sport, which is apparently getting the same two-liter petrol engine with 240 hp found under the bonnet of the Evoque and Jaguar XF, though, it has not been specified when this will take place – they can do this now, because of the massive weight savings achieved over the previous version.
By Andrei Nedelea
Note: Range Rover Sport pictured below.
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