The SUV market is fast and furious right now, the likes of nothing we have seen before in the automotive world. Rarely have so many companies with such varying and diverse DNA been fanatically at work on a similar product: the sports utility vehicle. Where Rolls Royce stole the show only days ago with the unveiling of their new Cullinan, Lister now hopes to grab some of the interest in SUV’s for their latest creation: (allegedly) the world’s fastest SUV.
Teasing us with little more than “Coming soon from Lister – the world’s fastest SUV”, the British sports car manufacturer has reaffirmed the notion that SUV’s are a hot commodity right now. The short and sweet statement from Lister unveils a sense of ‘déjà vu’ from when Koenigsegg made similar astronomical claims regarding the performance of their own cars. If hindsight is anything to go by, Lister may very well pull off bringing the fastest SUV to the market.
The model is most likely to be based on the Jaguar F-Pace SVR. With performance in mind, the car has been equipped with an aggressive front bumper and extended wheel arches. The official picture revealed by Lister also features lightweight alloy wheels on the car, backed up by a high-performance braking system featuring gold calipers and drilled rotors. Other changes include auxiliary LED daytime running lights and a front fender vent with the Lister resting proud.
The current F-Pace developed by Jaguar features a supercharged 5.0-liter V8 engine that produces 542 hp and 680 Nm of torque. It performs the 0-100 km/h sprint in 4.1 seconds and keeps the fun going until 283 km/h. Bearing all this in mind, knowing that Lister has only taken performance to the next level is almost bewildering to say the least.
The race to build the fastest and most luxurious SUV has been unravelling for some of the biggest names in the industry. After Porsche had devised the lucrative Cayenne and subsequently the more accessible but equally prosperous Macan, the hype-train of luxury sports utility vehicles was ploughing at full speed. After years of rumours, Lamborghini revealed their mighty Urus, Maserati came up with the Levante, Bentley awed us all with the pristine Bentayga, and Jaguar presented us the sleek F-Pace. Meanwhile Rolls-Royce coined their first SUV with an analogy of the world’s largest diamond ever found – the Cullinan. Aston Martin and Ferrari are rumoured to be hard at work behind the scenes to contribute their fair share to this bankable segment of the automotive industry. Does Lister stand chance against the titans of this industry? Only time will tell.
