Land Rover Previews New Discovery Sport Ahead of Release (Video)

Land Rover Discovery Sport Preview (Credit: Youtube)

In case you aren’t aware, Land Rover has big plans for the next generation of the Discovery. The “LR4” name will be dropped in the United States as the Disco badge returns. This time there will be a whole family of Discovery SUVs, similar to what Land Rover has been doing with the Range Rover lineup.

The big official unveiling of the new Discovery Sport is set for September 3. To get everyone really excited for the new model, the company has put together a video of camouflaged prototypes running around on a grueling obstacle courses as well as venturing across various wilderness areas. According to the company, the prototypes logged 750,000 miles in some truly harsh conditions in locations spread around the globe. That included wading through rivers in jungle areas, plowing through deep snow, traversing sand dunes in blistering heat, and powering down gravel roads. The prototype fleet consisted of 181 units that were each subjected to 11,000 tests.

Anyone who wants to get an up-close look at the baby Disco will have to wait for the Paris Auto Show in October. An official sales date for the United States hasn’t been announced yet, but it should be sometime in the summer of 2015 or later. While the Brits will enjoy an optional third row, Americans will only be able to get the new model with two rows of seating. There is anticipation that Land Rover will announce a longer version of the Discovery Sport for the United States market at a later date, which could then be had with an extra row of seats.

Land Rover has disclosed that the same chassis that is currently used for the Range Rover Evoque was modified for use on the new Disco Sport. As you can hear in the video, the new model is turbocharged and likely contains a 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. Land Rover will hopefully include the 3.0-liter V6 engine as an option.