Land Rover engineers have been spied recently testing a new Range Rover Sport with a whopping 5.0-litre V8 strapped to it. The current model only uses a Jaguar 4.2-litre V8, but it seems that the range topppers for Range Rover will be getting this new larger engine.

The test models were spied by UK’s Car magazine with quad pipes at the back and both cars had registration documents stating that they had a 4997cc block. Considering the current models with are already churning out up to 400hp, the new engine could push power all the way up to 450 or even 500hp, making them some of the most powerful SUVs on sale today.

Its not all about creating huge global-warming inducing gaz-guzzlers at Range Rover though, with the company expected to fit its LRX concept with a diesel hybrid engine, showing that not even Range Rover is immune to public wariness of SUV’s and their reputations.

While these plans are currently in place, it’s still unclear how much influence Land Rover’s new owners will have over the current product portfolio. Indian firm Tata is in pole position to buy both Jaguar and Land Rover though the bids will officially be announced in the first week of January.