GENEVA MOTOR SHOW: Discovery Sport teased

Land Rover used this week’s Geneva motor show to announce what motoring.com.au revealed more than a year ago: that next year’s Freelander replacement will go by the Discovery name – probably Discovery Sport.

After presenting the Range Rover Evoque Autobiography and Land Rover Discovery XXV limited-editions, Jaguar Land Rover group market chief Phil Popham said: “Soon, the Discovery will be a family of vehicles.”

Although he didn’t disclose what those models will be, the Freelander’s successor has been regularly spied undergoing final development testing and is due on sale next year, before the next-generation Discovery itself is released globally.

In conjunction with its Geneva show announcement, Land Rover has also launched a dedicated website dubbed New Age of Discovery, on which it states the Discovery nameplate will cover a range of vehicles from 2015.

“After 25 years Discovery will become a family,” says the website. “This new chapter will see the vehicle build upon its foundations of capability, versatility and exceptional design to reach new heights. Join us on the journey.”

The website also features a teaser video effectively beginning the countdown to the first new-generation Discovery model, which is expected to be a replacement for the Freelander, based on a stretched version of the Evoque’s steel platform, followed by a new Discovery based on the same aluminium platform as the Range Rover and Rangie Sport.

A basic sketch of the new model clearly shows a sportier side profile graphic than both the existing Freelander and Discovery models, featuring a sleeker silhouette with narrower daylight opening and a sharper C-pillar.

Expect the Freelander’s successor to be powered by the same new ‘Ingenium’ family of 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol and diesel engines as Jaguar’s all-new mid-size sedan, which was confirmed to be called the XE at Geneva.

Both the Freelander replacement and the full-size Discovery seven-seater, which has also been spied in testing form the ‘Leisure pillar’ of Land Rover’s model line-up, with the three Range Rover models forming the ‘luxury’ division and the Defender – which is itself due for renewal in 2015 – comprising the ‘dual purpose’ part.

Land Rover’s announcement follows our exclusive report from the 2012 Sydney motor show, where Land Rover’s global design boss Gerry McGovern confirmed the abandonment of the Freelander name, which first appeared in 1997.

“The next-generation Freelander will be a Discovery,” said McGovern at the time. “That [Freelander replacement] fits into that the Discovery pillar. “It will be a next-generation Freelander and worthy of being one, but we will probably badge it as a Discovery.

“Freelander has a lot of the cues in terms of its useability and versatility that a Discovery has, so we want to bring clarity there. So next-generation Freelander -- which will be totally new – will be one of those Discoverys in that pillar.”

McGovern confirmed that ‘Discovery Sport’ – which would be consistent with the Range Rover Sport nomenclature – was one of the nameplates being considered for the Freelander replacement.

And he promised that despite being based on different chassis architectures, the five-seat Freelander successor “will do all the things the current Freelander will do and more”; the larger Disco 5 will move dramatically upmarket in terms of luxury.

While the ‘Disco Sport’ is expected to be revealed at the Detroit motor show next January, the Discovery 5 – which will be built alongside the Rangie and Rangie Sport at JLR’s Solihull plant in the UK – is likely to follow at the 2015 New York show.

Latest news from Geneva motor show

Full photo gallery of 2014 Geneva Motor Show

Register to comment on this article.