South Africa bound Jaguar F-Pace SVR’s claws sharpened

Jaguar has followed the reveal of the facelift F-Pace in September up with the unveiling of the updated SVR South Africa will be getting next year.

Aside from the already applied changes, the SVR receives larger side vents taken from the XE SV Project 8, a model bespoke SVR branded grille and tweaked front bumper, optional Pixel LED headlights, a restyled rear bumper and five-spoke 22-inch alloy wheels finished in gloss black with added satin grey inserts.

Building on the interior updates of the standard model are unique graphics and readouts within the 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster and 11.4-inch Pivi Pro touchscreen infotainment display, an optional wireless smartphone charger, standard aluminium or optional open-pore carbon fibre inlays, a dimpled leather wrapped finish for the gear lever that replaces the rotary dial, Mars Red stitching and optional slim-line sport seats trimmed in semi-aniline leather.

Despite the discreet exterior and interior changes, the tweaks underneath the SVR’s body have been more extensive in the shape of a revised rear electronic active differential, better electronic assistance for the power steering, brakes which now measure 395 mm at the front and 396 mm at the rear and comes with an Integrated Power Booster as well as improved cooling, revised adaptive dampers and the latest JaguarDrive control selector with four modes; Eco, Comfort, Rain/Ice/Snow and Dynamic. A new Auto Hill Hold functions round the updates off.

Up front, the still Ford-based 5.0-litre supercharged V8 continues untouched with outputs of 405kW/700Nm. As before, drive goes to all four wheels through a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic gearbox with Jaguar claiming a top speed of 286 km/h and 0-100 km/h in four seconds flat.

Arriving during the first quarter of next year, the SVR will carry a sticker price of R1 835 700 which includes a five year/100 000 km maintenance plan as standard.

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