Land Rover has tossed out the Autobiography Black as its flagship car, and at the 2015 New York International Auto Show will replace it with the new Range Rover SVAutobiography. Created by Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations (SVO), the top-of-the-line model is billed as the "most luxurious and powerful series-production Range Rover in the model’s successful 45-year history."
Like its predecessor, the SVAutobiography has lines with a soft, urban feel to them that distances the 4x4 from its country cousins, though with more of a luxury feel than even the Black put out. It has a new front grille in Graphite Atlas and polished chrome that emphasizes the upmarket take on the Range Rover design, plus a Dual-Tone paint job with a Santorini Black upper body and nine color choices for the lower body. In addition, there's new lettering for the bonnet and a special SVAutobiography badge on the tailgate.
Under the bonnet is the specially-tuned 5.0-liter 550 bhp (410kW) supercharged V8 engine with 502 ft-lb (608 Nm) of torque, which the SVAutobiography shares with the Range Rover Sport SVR. According to Land Rover, its boost of 40 bhp (30 kW) over the previous engine is thanks to the Bosch engine management system and the re-tuned Roots-type twin-vortex supercharger’s electronic bypass valve.
Backing this is the ZF eight-speed flappy-paddle gearbox for smoother gear changes, that uses adaptive-shift logic which adjusts to the driver's behavior. As an audio reminder, there's the quad polished chrome tailpipes for optimal flow rates and a rich engine tone.
But the SVO really went to town on the leather interior marked out by the woodgrain paneling. The start-stop surround, rotary gear selector, and pedals are machined from solid aluminum, with similar machined details on the front and rear consoles.
The emphasis that Land Rover puts on the SVAutobiography's rear seating shows that this one is definitely aimed at the chauffeur-driven market rather than the wax-jacket and shotguns crowd. The fully adjustable seats with foot rests are complemented by deep twist-pile mohair carpet mats, a beverage chiller compartment, and powered deployable tables.
The Range Rover SVAutobiography will be available later this year starting at US$199,495.
The video below introduces the Range Rover SVAutobiography.
Source: Land Rover
