Automakers tend to use test mules that typically combine body parts of an existing model with chassis and/or mechanical components of a next generation vehicle in the early stages of development for testing purposes.
This seems to be the case with the Range Rover Sport prototype caught by our scoop photographers out on the road in Europe.
The test mule featured a modified front end and a strange arrangement for the exhaust system at the back, which leads us to believe that Land Rover engineers were trying out a different powerplant for the Range Rover Sport's successor, possibly a hybrid system.
Land Rover has already began testing camouflaged prototypes of the regular Range Rover while the company has confirmed that it is working on a more fuel-efficient and CO2 friendlier hybrid system based on the one featured on the Range_e concept, which was shown earlier this year.
