SPY PICS: New Land Rover Discovery sheds camo

Land Rover's fifth-generation Discovery has been spied in testing numerous times, but these fresh spy shots show the highly-anticipated new off-road SUV almost completely undisguised for the first time just a month before its world debut at the Paris motor show on September 29.

Wearing only light cladding tape, this prototype confirms the next-generation Discovery 5 – due on sale in Australia next year -- will lose the familiar square edges and boxy profile of all four of its predecessors (gone are the Disco's trademark stepped roof deign and square side window silhouette, although Land Rover's clamshell bonnet remains) to instead take on a sleeker, rounder design previewed by the 2014 Discovery Vision Concept.

While that suicide-doored show car previewed the Freelander-replacing Discovery Sport, the Disco 5 emerges as a larger looking version of its smaller sibling, but with front and rear lighting graphics that echo those of the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, with which it will share its boned and riveted aluminium-intensive monocoque platform architecture, potentially shaving hundreds of kilos from the existing Disco 4, which weighs at least 2500kg and dates back to 2005.

It also means the next Discovery will head significantly upmarket in terms of technology, refinement and luxury, and its seven-seat interior will share more in common with both big Rangies and Jaguar's first SUV, the F-PACE, with high-spec versions expected to come with a 10.2-inch touch-screen display and InControl Touch Pro infotainment system and high-resolution laser head-up display

Expect a further development of Land Rover's pioneering Terrain Response system, which adjusts suspension, engine, transmission and traction control systems to suit different conditions, perhaps including laser-scanning technology that can ‘read’ the terrain ahead and adjust the chassis and powertrain accordingly.

It could even bring the first production applications of Land Rover's see-through bonnet, Jaguar's transparent A-pillars and Continental's digital windcsreen technologies. It might even direct laser light projections of the vehicle onto the road surface ahead, which could be useful in tight off-road situations by showing the vehicle's width and in urban traffic by making the driver’s intentions clear. As Land Rover's flagship (non-Range Rover) model, the 2017 Disco could also introduce Remote Drive, JLR's answer to BMW's Remote Control Parking system.

Jaguar Land Rover Australia boss Matthew Wiesner told motoring.com.au in March the new Disco, which will be built at Solihull alongside the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, will offer more luxury without diminishing its iconic off-road capability.

“Discovery will take a more premium space and it’s evolved into what Discovery is in its next life," he said. "It doesn’t mean we are backing away from what Discovery needs to be. It needs to be absolutely capable off-road. It has a big job to do given what the current car does.

“It will still be a Discovery, it will still do the things a Discovery must have, it will still have the capability, the space, the family orientation. But it will also have a broader appeal from a premium point of view."

Whether that means a step up in price from the current model's $68,940 starting sticker remains to be seen.

Under the bonnet will be a mix of JLR's latest Ingenium four- and six-cylinder diesel and petrol engines, while range-topping SVX flagship with more power, a chunkier body kit and more off-road features is also expected.

In addition, it's expected to become available in hybrid guise for the first time, incorporating a petrol-electric powertrain based around JLR's 2.0-litre Ingenium engine and an electric motor enclosed in the eight-speed automatic gearbox, offering up to about 20km of zero-emissions driving.

The Disco 5 will be the first in a series of new JLR models due from next year, after which Jaguar is expected to add a smaller SUV called the E-PACE and potentially a larger seven-seat SUV called the J-PACE, while Land Rover is also developing an all-new five-seat SUV to slot between the Evoque and Range Rover Sport, plus a redesigned Defender.