Jaguar Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations department is expanding by launching a new branch that will concentrate on making extreme off-road models. Whereas SVR-badged cars focus on road performance, these SVX models will be all-terrain monsters, with the first one being Land Rover Discovery SVX set for debut next year.

The SVX Disco will be based on the next version of the SUV, known as Discovery 5, and it will be packed with technology features and off-road gear that will make the car – in theory, at least – unstoppable. The company has already given us a glimpse of the kind of technologies that would be used in an extreme off-roader with features such as the virtual windscreen. Land Rover Discovery SVX will be getting that and lots more besides, and it will also look the part with jacked-up ride height and large off-road wheels. The SVX program will also spawn an extreme variant of the next Defender which is something to look forward to.

SVO boss John Edwards told Autocar: “Every nameplate we produce will be considered for an SVO derivative — we will look at each one and see if we can push the boundaries in any direction. Land Rover is all about bandwidth. What we have done over 65 years is broaden the breadth of capability of our vehicles. We have taken the opportunity with the Sport SVR to go right, and SVX gives us a chance to go left. It’s clear that a result of that will be that the Land Rover proposition will benefit overall — we will be amplifying the core brand values.”