News : Land Rover reveals new Discovery Sport

Land Rover's new Discovery Sport
Land Rover’s new Discovery Sport

The new baby Discovery has finally broken cover – with Land Rover unveiling the newcomer within the dramatic surroundings of Spaceport America in New Mexico along with (and, no, we’re not joking) a competition to win a trip into space with Virgin Galactic…

The car will be seen in Europe for the first time at next month’s Paris Motor Show, and goes on sale in January 2015 priced from £32,395, with the promise of a less expensive entry-level model to follow.

LR_DS_Interior_07

Similar in dimensions to the existing Freelander, yet with a pair of pop-up rear seats allowing what Land Rover calls a 5+2 seating formation, the newcomer will be available initially in 4WD and powered by the 2.2-litre SD4 190PS engine, with a 2WD eD4 model set to follow, offering a company car friendly C02 output below 119 g/km and a sub £30k list price.

LR_DS_Interior_11

The Discovery Sport will have a choice of six-speed manual or nine-speed automatic transmission, plus Land Rover’s trademark Terrain Response® system to ensure that, in 4WD form at least, it lives up to the off-road ability for which the brand is renowned.

With sales of small SUVs on the rise, and the inevitable cachet of the Land Rover badge, the Halewood-built Discovery Sport can only be a good thing for the British motor industry – but what do AROnline readers think?

Disco sport front 34

Disco sport rear 34

 

Craig Cheetham

17 Comments

  1. Looking very nice and less Saab-like. Will be interesting to see if the more prestigious Discovery name instead of Freelander tag pushes sales and if the Sport name gives it more appeal to customers. Can it hold its own on manufacturing statistics compared to the hugely successful Evoque?

    The 5+2 arrangement will surely help. Whatever the sales figures, I for one like the look of it.

  2. Too much like a shrunken Range Rover Sport, in my eyes, I’m afraid. I certainly preferred the rear end design treatment of the Discovery Vision design concept, which linked in well with the established design cues of the current and previous generations of Land Rover Discovery.

    I think the Discovery Sport highlights that design boundaries and model distinction are getting blurred with Range Rover offerings and there is no new fresh creativity for the Land Rover brand. Goodness knows what the Defender’s replacement will look like!

    It highlights why I prefer the Freelander 2 and Discovery 4 over the Evoque and now Discovery Sport.

  3. I think it looks very nice. The 7-seater-only configuration is an interesting choice. It probably allows a higher price to be commanded giving the same profit with fewer units. The Freelander was bigger but cheaper than the Evoque. The 7-seater configuration distinguishes from the Evoque in another way.

    Looked at another way, Land Rover is walking away from the lower end of the SUV market. Restricting choice to British-made cars (which I always do 😉 the Honda CRV, which previously was priced pretty much at par with the Freelander, looks cheaper than a Discovery Sport if you don’t want 7 seats.

    • It is Land Rover’s deliberate move away from the lower end of the SUV market that concerns me slightly. Particularly as both Jeep and Suzuki will be launching new models next year which will cost from approximately £15,000 – the price territory of the first generation Freelander. As you say, Land Rover is pricing itself beyond some highly creditable (and cheaper to buy) alternatives, while at the same time creating further price overlap with other Land Rovers as you look as mid to high spec derivatives.

  4. Lets hope that the Defender replacement will have some models (Defender Sport?) that will take the place the Freelander had in the marketplace. £32K as a starting price is way, way out of reach of the original customers the Freelander/Freelander 2 were aiming at when they cam onto the market.

    There is still a very buoyant market at that level and Land Rover should be dominating it, not walking away from it.

  5. The model launched is a top end one, the article above even states that a lower priced entry model has been promised.
    It’s quite a common strategy, launch the top end and start production quite slowly to iron out any faults and then bring the range down over the space of a year or two.

  6. Which in theory means that those who pay the most get the most unreliable cars. Plus word will get around that they are overpriced giving LR a mammoth challenge marketing the more affordable variants when they follow on.

    Well done Land Rover!

  7. The motorbike industry in the UK fell through the floor due to producing vehicles that the market did not want and I feel that the parallels with this new model, where is the cheap, less equiped model?
    Not everyone wants a Chelsea tractor, my vehicles need to earn their keep.

    I will keep to my long wheelbase series 2A and Freelander 1 thank you.

  8. Usual collection of rather sad comments here whenever a manufacturer, British or otherwise launches something more expensive than a City Rover. JLR can sell all the Landrover/Rangerover products it makes at a premium and struggles to meet demand. Why would they invest in volume production for a product that no one would aspire to own and that would make nowhere near the profits its current portfolio makes. The UK car industry is no longer a producer of Metros and Allegros. Why is that a bad thing?

  9. I quite like the new Disco sport. I was looking an Evoque (at the supermarket) the other day – plenty of them around even in my small town in NZL – very popular. I like them(Evoque) too, but I thought (when I was gazing at it at the supermarket) you know its looking dated already! The New Disco with its smooth and unfussy lines, will look good for a long time as do all Discovery’s (except the first ones with the horrid blue interior). Keep up the good work! My only gripe about the Disco 5 is that it looks a little like the first model of the Ford Territory (Australian). and… Strangely the new Ford Territory looks a little MG6ish at the front. Alex

  10. I was a big fan of the Evoque until I saw one in the flesh. The shallow windows just don’t do it for me now.
    However the Discovery Sport does light my fire, and although I love the Freelander 2, I think I’d have the new Disco any day of the week.
    As other posters have said though, they ought to consider a small, cheap SUV to bring people with ordinary incomes to the marque.

  11. Provided you get leather and Nav for your £32395 it will be reasonable value. The Freelander 2 in the last year or two has become very expensive ie. £40k for the top of the range model. The Discovery Sport will be a great success for JLR and the UK economy
    I think it looks great.

  12. That looks nice but it has a hard act to follow because the Freelander 2 was a great vehicle.But unlike the Evoque which does look like a small Range Rover this does not look like a Discovery. Freelander Sport would have been a better name.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*


This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.