Warwick Acoustics confirms it built Range Rover's electrostatic audio

Twenty-one panels carrying 55 sound radiators line the headrests, seat backs and headlining of the Range Rover SV. That's the hardware behind what supplier Warwick Acoustics bills as the first electrostatic audio system fitted to a production car — and the Nuneaton-based firm has now confirmed, for the first time, that it developed the panels and their drive systems.

What took so long?

The company says the Range Rover program caps more than 20 years of research into making electrostatic loudspeakers — a technology long confined to audiophile home hi-fi and headphones — survive automotive packaging, vibration and safety requirements. Warwick Acoustics had not previously disclosed its role on the vehicle.

Each radiator uses an ultralight membrane suspended between perforated metal plates. The company claims the membrane reacts to the audio signal 1,000 times faster and more precisely than a conventional speaker cone. The panels emit near-flat sound waves, which listeners perceive as originating up to 30 metres away rather than inches from their ears.

Warwick Acoustics also supplied the software and acoustic engineering behind the system, branded SV Electrostatic Sound by Land Rover's SVO (Special Vehicle Operations) division.

Why EV makers should care

This is not just an audiophile story. The supplier is now pitching the technology to electric vehicle makers on mass, power and packaging grounds — three variables that directly affect range.

Electrostatic panels need no heavy magnet-and-cone motor assembly, and their drive systems draw power more efficiently than conventional drivers, the company argues. In an EV, every kilogram trimmed and every watt of accessory load avoided converts into measurable range. That's the commercial logic behind taking the technology beyond one halo trim on a luxury SUV.

Chief Marketing Officer Orazio Pollaci framed the production fitment as the company's founding goal achieved. "When this company was founded, our mission was always to bring electrostatic speaker technology out of audiophile home entertainment systems and headphones and into the car," he said in a statement. "Seeing the system in production in the Range Rover SV is a realisation of the very reason Warwick Acoustics was founded."

He added: "Alongside the accuracy and spaciousness of audio reproduction inherent in electrostatics, the efficiency of this technology delivers material mass, power and packaging benefits to a range of eMobility transport markets."

What does this change for the supply base?

Not much yet, in volume terms. One SVO trim on one nameplate is a footnote in supplier rankings. But it's a confirmed production first for a technology the audio tier has discussed for two decades, and it gives Warwick Acoustics a reference program no competitor holds.

The claims to watch are the supplier's own: 1,000-times-faster membrane response and mass savings on EV programs come from the vendor, not from independent testing or OEM data. Verification will come with the second and third programs.

What to watch next: whether Warwick Acoustics lands an electrostatic audio contract with a volume EV maker, and whether any OEM publishes comparative mass and power figures against conventional premium systems. Until then, this stays a niche-first story with an EV sales pitch attached.