Land Rover used this year Frankfurt Motor Show to unveil one very special version of the current Discovery. It is called the Discovery SVX and adds extreme all-terrain capability to the Special Vehicle Operations (SVO) product triangle.
SVX will sit alongside the Range Rover Sport SVR and Range Rover SVAutobiography.
Since its launch in 2016 the fifth-generation Discovery, built on Land Rover’s strong, safe and light aluminium architecture, has won admiration as the world’s best full-size versatile SUV. That makes it the perfect base for SVO’s first SVX vehicle. New Discovery is the first modern Land Rover to wear the SVX badge.
It will be offered exclusively with Jaguar Land Rover’s 5.0-litre supercharged V8 petrol powertrain, tuned to deliver 525PS peak power and 625Nm torque, along with suspension modifications.
Hydraulic Active Roll Control (H-ARC), is new to Discovery on SVX. It gives increased wheel articulation and improved body control, enhancing extreme off-road traction while also reducing body roll.
Discovery SVX is also equipped with active centre and electronic rear locking differentials which work with the specially tuned Terrain Response 2 system to optimise traction on all surfaces.
Complementing these hardware upgrades are unique software calibrations for the eight-speed automatic transmission with twin-speed transfer box, and Discovery’s dynamics systems including Hill Descent Control, Electronic Traction Control (ETC), Adaptive Dynamics, Dynamic Stability Control (DSC), All-Terrain Progress Control (ATPC) and variable ratio electric power-assisted steering (EPAS). Discovery SVX also features a model-first Pistol Shifter in place of the Drive select rotary shifter to offer the driver optimum control of gear selection in off-road manoeuvres.
The production preview SVX at Frankfurt IAA features unique front and rear bumpers with protective skid plates and exposed Rush Orange-finished metal recovery eyes – each rated to enable recovery of more than six tonnes, an anti-glare bonnet finish and an integrated rear-mounted electric winch system.
Discovery SVX will be the first Land Rover hand-assembled by expert craftsmen at the SVO Technical Centre in the UK when production begins in 2018.
