Due to higher sales in China, Land Rover saw an improvement in its worldwide performance during the 1 June to 30 September quarter. While fiscal 2019-2020 sales are still down by 4.6% (to 180,705 vehicles), the worst may now be in the past.
The momentum of the new Evoque, a major facelift for the Discovery Sport and the addition of the Defender should all mean that calendar 2019 ends up being a strong one. With a lot more to come in 2020 and beyond.
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The division’s strategy of having three ‘families’ of vehicles – Defender, Discovery and Range Rover – has been in the works for some time. The arrival of the much anticipated L663 Defender now means that the rugged part of the three groups is back in place, and this name should also be the prefix for at least one additional model to be launched in the 2020s. The Discovery line also includes the smaller and recently re-engineered Discovery Sport, while the Evoque, Velar, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover comprise the four-model luxury cluster.
Defender family
L860 is said to be the code for a potential additional Land Rover, expected to be launched in 2021 as part of plans to expand the Defender name into a model line in its own right. The current thinking is believed to be a vision to create a tough-looking 4.1-4.3m long five-door ‘Defender Sport‘ SUV. A three-door might be added later. The look would not be dissimilar to that of the Jeep Renegade. Petrol, petrol-electric and fully electric powertrains should feature, although diesel is not guaranteed.
It is not yet known what architecture this model will use or where it would be built. There have been assumptions that it will be based on Tata’s OMEGA platform but some sources have hinted that it might instead be part of the project to eventually move all JLR vehicles to MLA, a new platform.
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By GlobalDataThe idea of a B-SUV has been looked at several times over the years, with the most recent provisional project said to have centred on the Tata Motors D10 platform. This is a shortened, re-engineered and low-cost version of the Ford EUCD-derived D8 architecture used for the pre-facelift Discovery Sport.
Project L851, the so-called ‘Discovery Junior’ is said to have been shelved or axed in 2017. It had been due to enter production in 2020. L860 is said to have replaced L851.
The series production L663, revealed to the media and the public at the Frankfurt motor show in September, uses D7x (where x stands for ‘extreme’), a version of the D7u unibody platform from the Discovery. Such are the differences that the body-in-white of the Defender has to be made on a different line at the Nitra plant where both vehicles are manufactured.
To achieve what is said to be an ambitious production target there will eventually be three lengths. These are called 90, 110 and 130: references to wheelbase dimensions in inches of the former shape models. The line-up should be:
- 4,323mm long standard wheelbase ’90’ three-door with seating for five or six (production to start in March 2020)
- 4,758mm long extended wheelbase ‘110’ five-door with seating for five, six or five+two (production to start in November 2019)
- 5,100mm long extended wheelbase ‘130’ five-door with seating for eight (production to start in August 2020)
The 90 has a 2,587mm wheelbase while the 110 and 130 share a 3,022mm wheelbase. Plans for pick-ups were apparently dropped.
Variant names and their engines are expected to be:
- D200, 147kW/200PS and 430Nm (317 lb-ft) 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel
- D240, 177kW/240PS and 430Nm (317 lb-ft) 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel
- D300, 221kW/300PS and 650Nm (479 lb-ft) 3.0-litre six-cylinder diesel
- P300, 221kW/300PS and 400Nm (295 lb-ft) 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol
- P400, 294kW/400PS and 550Nm (406 lb-ft) 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol
- P400 PHEV, 297kW/404PS and TBC 2.0-litre Ingenium petrol four-cylinder petrol plus one motor
In the USA, there should be Federalised 2.0-litre and 3.0-litre gasoline engines producing 296 and 395 horsepower. The previous model hadn’t been sold there for a long time due to its lack of airbags. The new vehicle will also be offered in China and there will likely be local assembly at a Tata plant for the Indian market.
The lifecyle of L663 will be nothing like as long as that of the former L316 shape Defender. Land Rover should facelift the vehicle in 2025 and replace it in 2030.
Discovery family
The public premiere of the Discovery Sport was at October 2014’s Paris motor show. From launch in the UK (early 2015), this 5+2 seater model was powered by a 190PS 2.2-litre SD4 diesel. Both nine-speed automatic and six-speed manual transmissions were available from the start of production. A two wheel drive eD4 diesel engine joined the range later that year with CO2 emissions from 119g/km. In certain markets, including North America, a Ford-sourced 240hp four-cylinder petrol featured.
JLR’s Ingenium engines became available in certain countries from September 2015 in two forms: 150PS and 180PS versions of the 2.0-litre TD4 engine. These units replaced a Ford-sourced 2.2-litre diesel in most European countries.
The architecture is based on Ford’s EUCD platform. JLR originally called it D8 but the name changed to Premium Transverse Architecture (PTA) at the time of a facelift which was announced in May. PTA was introduced by the second generation Evoque. JLR is justified in claiming this to be a new architecture as in order to accommodate the battery pack of the PHEV derivative, engineers made major modifications to the basic structure.
In North America, the facelifted Discovery Sport is new for the 2020 model year, as is the 48-volt 296hp mild-hybrid (MHEV) powertrain. The facelifted model is being rolled out to global markets from this month. There probably won’t be too many more major changes ahead of the arrival of the successor. That vehicle is pencilled in for 2023.
Land Rover hasn’t given in to media criticism about the looks of L462, the third generation Discovery, by giving it an early facelift. Nonetheless, the division would have to agree that while the basic shape is sound, some of the detailing has put off many potential buyers. Especially those who owned the old model. The segment is robust yet the current Discovery is nowhere near the top of its class when it comes to global sales compared to competitors.
Build commenced in February 2017, which means a facelift in 2020 would not be seen as capitulation; instead just a timely update. If this does take place, there would be a second one in 2023, some three years ahead of the release of a fourth generation vehicle in 2026. L462 uses D7u, a lower cost version of JLR’s Premium Lightweight Architecture.
The Discovery has the same wheelbase as the Range Rover but unlike that model, there are seven seats. As was the case with the previous model, these are staggered so that those in the second and third rows have a good view ahead. Measuring 4,970mm from end to end, this big 4×4 is 140mm longer than the 2004-2017 shape and 40mm lower.
The company will fit its own in-line six-cylinder petrol engine to the Discovery either later in 2019 or in 2020. The 3.0-litre Ingenium – which has mild hybrid technology – was announced in February.
The L462 Discovery would be the first vehicle to be built at JLR’s Nitra plant, the company announced in November 2016. Then in June 2018 JLR stated that it would be ending production of the model at Solihull in England. The plant continues to manufacture the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Nitra built its first series production examples of the Discovery in September 2018.
Range Rover family
The second generation Range Rover Evoque was revealed to the media in November 2018, a few weeks before series production commenced. Deliveries began in the first quarter, with build in China following from April.
L551 is the same length as the L538 original but the wheelbase is 20mm longer. As production of the poor-selling three door was stopped in June 2018, Land Rover has not replaced that variant. And for now at least, there is no successor for the Cabrio.
All variants, with the exception of the base front-wheel drive one, are mild hybrids with 48V electrics. Engines are from the 1.5-litre three- and 2.0-litre four-cylinder Ingenium family. A plug-in hybrid will go on sale in 2020 powered by a 1.5-litre three-cylinder petrol engine plus a motor. This is the same powertrain that powers the equivalent version of the Discovery Sport.
The Evoque should be facelifted in 2022. The third generation is due to arrive in 2026 and this will use a fresh platform.
Production of the Range Rover Velar in both England and China commenced in August 2017. Assembly in India was added in April this year. Unusually, the Velar went on sale in North American markets almost as soon as it became available in European ones: US sales commenced in September 2017 for the 2018 model year.
The rear- and all-wheel drive platform is the same as that of the Jaguars F-Pace, XE and second generation XF. This is based upon the PLA aluminium architecture as used by the Range Rover and RR Sport. Despite the supposed lightweight construction, the least hefty variant tips the scales at 1,804kg, while the V6 diesel weighs from 1,959kg. Unlike the RR and RRS, the standard 4WD system does not have a low-range transfer case or central differential.
The Velar extended the Range Rover family as follows:
- 4,390mm long Range Rover Evoque
- 4,803mm Range Rover Velar
- 4,850mm Range Rover Sport
- 4,899mm Range Rover
- 5,199mm Range Rover LWB
As yet there is no word on an electrified variant but a PHEV powertrain will likely be added in 2020. The SVAutobiography, a limited edition powered by a 550PS supercharged 5.0-litre V8, was announced in February. A facelift should happen in the second half of 2021. A successor is likely to appear in 2025.
Series production of the third generation Range Rover Sport should commence in England in September 2021. It will use MLA, the same modified version of JLR’s PLA/D7u architecture as the fifth generation Range Rover. That model is due for launch a few months earlier. As for how L461 will look, perhaps there were strong hints from the modified RRS featured in The First.
L460, the fifth generation Range Rover, is expected to enter production in England in mid-2021, based on the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA). The life cycle should extend out to late 2030 after a facelift in 2026.
The powertrain line-up should be as follows:
- 2.0-litre Ingenium petrol
- 2.0-litre Ingenium diesel
- 2.0-litre Ingenium plug-in hybrid
- 3.0-litre Ingenium petrol
- 3.0-litre Ingenium diesel
- 4.4-litre BMW petrol V8
- 2-motor fully electric
Reports for many other manufacturers’ future models are grouped in the OEM product strategy summaries section of just-auto.com.
Future product program intelligence
More detail on past, current and forthcoming models can be found in PLDB, the future vehicles database which is part of QUBE. That includes those current and future Land Rover models which were not discussed in the above report.
This was the third of three features in a series which examined the current and future models of Tata Motors’ passenger vehicle brands. The first one looked at the Tata brand, with Jaguar the topic of the second report. The next OEM to have its future models strategy explored will be Ford Motor Company.
