Meet The Range Rover SV Arete — the Most Exclusive Range Rover in Canada
Range Rover & SHARP
In a fast-paced industry where innovation seems always just around the corner, not rushing things can still pay huge dividends. So it is with the full-sized Range Rover, where the design team didn’t leap for the trends, but executed a restrained and polished style that just gets better the more you look at it. And when it came time to polish that look just a little further to create an exclusive bespoke machine for Canada — on sale now in a series of only eight examples — Range Rover literally took the glacial route.
The 2024 Range Rover SV Arete takes its name from the spiny ridge of rock left by two glaciers carving away stone in parallel. It’s a rare geological feature to find, and likewise, this Whistler inspired SUV is being offered in extremely limited form: just eight will be built, each one both subtle and special.
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
The Arete is the work of Range Rover SV, the company Special Vehicle Operations team. The division has crafted limited editions before, but this is the first effort by the Bespoke team specifically for the Canadian market, and it’s a stunner.
SV Bespoke extends the available colour palette for its clients, and in the case of the Arete, that means a shimmering dark blue like the shoulders of a snow-capped peak in winter. Range Rover calls the hue Special Effect Gloss blue, and its highly reflective surface highlights the long wheelbase Range Rover has an exterior smooth as water-polished stone, with flush doorhandles a subtly curving sheetmetal. In a nice touch, the colour extends to the insets of the 23” 10-spoke wheels.
All eight Arete special editions will be based on Range Rover’s most luxurious offering, the long wheelbase model with seating for four. This layout allows for 725L of luggage capacity and gives a particularly first-class feel for rear passengers, with a refrigerator tucked between the rear seats, sumptuous reclining seats, and even an electrically deployable table. Everything is controlled through a rear touchscreen controller that also offers wireless charging, and each rear passenger also gets their own 11.4” touchscreens for entertainment.
Building on this luxury, Range Rover outfits the Arete in deep blue leather with dark grey fabric accents from the Scandinavian textile company Kvadrat. The higher portion of the seatbacks are stitched with a pattern intended to evoke the jagged peaks of the Coast Mountains, with dark wood veneer and numbered tread plates. The Arete even gets its own signature pillows for the interior.
Up front is a 13.1” touchscreen for infotainment duties, with a bright 13.7” instrument display for the driver. Onboard wireless connection for both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto make smartphone connectivity simple. Further, a serene cabin experience is to be expected in a Range Rover, and here there’s both insulation against intruding sounds as well as active noise cancelling. The only sound is whatever music you select from the 1600-Watt Meridian premium audio system.
Under foot, the driver gets access to top of the line power with a twin-turbocharged 4.4L V8 good for a peak of 606 hp and 553 lb-ft of torque from just 1800 rpm. An eight-speed transmission handles shifting duties and, like all Range Rovers, the Arete comes with proper four-wheel-drive and terrain management modes to handle any kind of inclement weather.
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
2024 Range Rover SV Arete
If it’s just the rain of a mountain squall or light snow, the full-time all-wheel-drive system is monitoring available grip a hundred times in a second, and is capable of using brake-based torque vectoring to get the power to the tire with most traction. The system will run in pure rear-wheel-drive above 35 km/h for efficiency, but is advanced enough to lock into all-wheel-drive if the temperature drops below 3C.
For tacking deeper snow or a rough climb to a secluded mountain cabin, Range Rover’s Terrain Response functions allow the Arete to take on any challenge. This is the second generation of this technology, and features six different selectable modes, which will also raise the suspension as needed to tackle the landscape. Again, this is a proper four-wheel-drive system with low-range gears, and combined with the readily available torque from the twin-turbocharged V8, the Arete can scramble over broken ground in a manner befitting its name.
Having said that, the role of any Range Rover vehicle extends far beyond knowing that you hold ultimate offroad prowess in reserve. Despite its long wheelbase and luxury-oriented intent, the Arete should be capable of dispatching the winding Sea-To-Sky highway to Whistler with ease. The adjustable air suspension keeps the centre of gravity low on tarmac, and rear-wheel-steering adds a level of agility that makes the long wheelbase virtually disappear.
To really imbue the Arete with the spirit of the highest peak of the Coast Mountain range, Range Rover offers each of its eight special edition Canadian models with the ultimate winter playground accessory: a customized pair of snowboards or skis from local specialist Prior. Prior is a thirty-five year Whistler original, handcrafting skis and snowboards since the days when it was just a sleepy resort town on the west coast of Canada.
In addition, with the sale of each of the eight Arete special editions, Range Rover will be donating to support two Whistler cultural linchpins. The Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre educates and honours the history of the local indigenous people, and the Audain Art Museum showcases nearly two hundred works from BC-based artists.
In addition, with the sale of each of the eight Arete special editions, Range Rover will be donating to support two Whistler cultural linchpins. The Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre educates and honours the history of the local indigenous people, and the Audain Art Museum showcases nearly two hundred works from BC-based artists.
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