Fastest ever Land Rover revealed

Land Rover will preview its most potent production 4WD ever this week in the UK -- the Range Rover Sport SVR, a 404kW fire-breathing supercharged behemoth that promises to give the BMW X5 M and Mercedes-Benz ML 63 AMG a bruising.

It's the first production model from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to wear the new SVR badge, which is reserved for vehicles developed by JLR's new in-house high performance division, Special Vehicle Operations, which will rival AMG and the like.

Dubbed the "ultimate performance evolution" of the Range Rover Sport, the new Rangie SVR has undergone extensive testing on the Nurburgring and, as the video below reveals, the car is clocking sports car-like lap times at the famous 20.8km German circuit.

With lower, sports-tuned suspension that reduces body roll through corners (and develop higher levels of traction as a result), the Range Rover Sport SVR is being touted as most agile Rangie yet – a title previously held by its donor car, the Range Rover Sport.

It also gets a tweaked automatic transmission, bigger stoppers, wider tyres and sporty body work to accompany the beefed-up engine, not to mention a new exhaust system that will announce the car's arrival well before it comes into view.

Indeed, Land Rover is promoting the Range Rover Sport SVR's exhaust note heavily, particularly on social media, and as is evident from the video the Rangie's V8 is a loud, snorting, crackling and snarling beast that promises to make the driving experience even more memorable.

To be shown wearing camouflage at its Goodwood Festival of Speed debut this weekend, the new model will go on sale in 2015. It's already been spied several times over the past 12 months undergoing testing at the Nurburgring, so the company is clearly taking its time perfecting its first ever SVR model.

Range Rover is also keeping vital statistics, except peak power output, a closely guarded secret for now. However, the storming Rangie's 404kW output is the same as in the Jaguar XKR-S, so expect its 5.0-litre supercharged V8 to bang out 680Nm – possibly more.

That should deliver a 0-100km/h time of less than five seconds and a top speed of around 270km/h.

JLR's newly formed Special Vehicle Operations is also responsible for the new limited run F-TYPE Project 7 sports car.

Effectively a re-branded and expanded version of JLR's ETO (engineered to order) division, SVR is expected to tune almost every model in JLR's future line-up, including the Range Rover Evoque and upcoming Jaguar XE mid-size sedan.