Range Rover Sport Coupe Goes Testing on German Autobahn

After all, one of the assets of this roofline special will have to be its refinement and the German highway network provides an ideal testing ground for such aspects, with its derestricted sections allowing Land Rover engineers to monitor the vehicle's behavior at all speeds.

Despite Land Rover's high-riding core, the Brits are just as late as Porsche (a Cayenne Coupe test vehicle has recently shown up, remember?) when it comes to playing the Coupe SUV game.

Codenamed L560, the model we have here is essentially the Land Rover incarnation of the Jaguar F-Pace. The obvious bias will be present, so while the Jag is focused on driving dynamics, the Landie will display better all-rounder abilities. As for the positioning within the automaker's line-up, the newcomer should be closer to the Range Rover Sport than the Evoque, hence the temporary name the vehicle was currently given.

The model has been tentatively name Velar, a name that comes from the era when the company was developing the original Land Rover. You know, the one that actually focused on offroading instead of asking designers to mix aggressive styling cues with tons of LED lights.

Earlier this month, we spied a prototype testing at the Mercedes-Benz Sindelfingen plant. And since the German automaker will mark its straight-six return next year and Land Rover is rumored to also introduce an in-line six engine family in 2017, we could expect the two carmakers to enter a joint-venture - one that would be extremely different to the collaboration between AMG and Aston Martin, though.

The new Land Rover should make its debut in the first half of next year, possibly at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show.