Jaguar Land Rover has confirmed that the 2014 Range Rover - which will be in showrooms in Europe and North America by the third quarter of this year - will be available with a new and more powerful 250kW supercharged V6 engine.
The new engine will replace the naturally-aspirated five-litre V8 in the line-up - but the Range Rover's signature 375kW supercharged V8 will still be available. Both the V8 and the new V6 will be paired with an eight-speed ZF 8HP70 automatic transmission.
The supercharged four-cam V6 - developed from the existing five-litre V8 - delivers peak power at 6500ropm and maximum torque from 3500-5000rpm, good enough to take the 2014 Range Rover to 100km/h in 7.1 seconds.
Its lightweight die-cast aluminum block has cross-bolted main bearing caps for strength, and has dual independent variable cam timing with actuation rates of more than 150 degrees per second, as well as counter-rotating front and rear balancer weights for smooth running.
A Roots-type twin vortex supercharger is mounted in the 'V' of the engine.
Thed the charge air is fed through an air/liquid intercooler and spray-guided direct injection squirts fuel into the combustion chambers at pressures of up to 150bar several times during each combustion cycle, creating a more homogenous air-fuel mixture for cleaner and more efficient combustion, while a high compression ratio of 10.5:1 improves fuel efficiency and reduces emissions.
The engine has been engineered to cope with anything a Range Rover can get into, including extreme off-road tilt angles, wading depth of 900mm and towing up to 3500kg. Its accessory drive is waterproof, as are the alternator, air conditioning compressor, and starter motor, and its pressure die-cast sump has a deep profile and an oil pick-up designed to operate at tilt angles of up to 45 degrees.