The Range Rover Sport SV Carbon Is Doing Its Best To Be Lightweight

Land Rover, it seems, has no time for artsy-fartsy model names that don’t bear any relevance to the car they’re attached to. Take the revamped Range Rover Sport SV lineup: the Black is black, the Bespoke comes in pretty much any colour you like, and now, rounding things out is this: the Range Rover Sport SV Carbon. Want to guess what sets this one apart?

Yep, Land Rover’s put a big order in at the autoclave and come out with a version of the fastest Range Rover Sport that sheds 76kg from the standard car, although it still only just squeaks in under the 2.5-tonne mark as a result.

Powering it is the same BMW-sourced 4.4-litre twin-turbo V8 as the other SVs, kicking out 626bhp and 553lb ft. That sees it hit a quoted top speed of 180mph. No acceleration figures yet, but the standard SV hits 60mph in 3.6 seconds. The rest of the hardware is familiar too, including the ZF eight-speed auto and highly impressive 6D Dynamics cross-linked suspension.

The bulk of the weight savings come from the optional 23-inch carbon fibre wheels, previously seen on the limited-run Edition Two last year. If you don’t want to run the risk of kerbing those, you can opt for some slightly heavier 23-inch forged alloys instead. Also optional are a set of carbon ceramic brakes. We feel they might be worthwhile investments here.

Continuing the overarching theme, the Carbon gets a standard Forged Carbon Exterior Pack, which does what it says on the tin, including giving you carbon surrounds for the quartet of active tailpipes. Options include a twill carbon finish for this pack, and an exposed carbon bonnet, and we think we may have reached the upper limit for using the word ‘carbon’ in one paragraph. Carbon.

On the inside, there’s a set of carbon-backed bucket seats, with more of the C-word found on the dash. Again, it comes in a standard forged finish, with an optional twill weave.

The Carbon rounds out the refreshed Range Rover Sport SV family, with the high-performance version now a regular member of the range rather than a limited edition. Unsurprisingly, the Carbon is the priciest of the bunch, kicking off at £165,045, with orders open now.