New Land Rover Freelander will actually be a Discovery

It seems Land Rover are planning to drop the Freelander badge when the new Freelander arrives in 2014 and instead make it part of a core range of new Discovery SUVs.

[nggallery id=1193 template=customlinks]

It seems, according to Autocar, that the next generation Land Rover Freelander – Land Rover’s ‘baby’ until the Evoque came along – will lose its Freelander badge and instead become part of an extended range of new Discovery models.

It seems – as we expected – that Land Rover are looking to make more sense of their range of off-roaders as new models are launched, and are going to concentrate on three core brands – Range Rover, Discovery and Defender – instead of the current mish-mash where many models really overlap with others (the top end Discoverys are really a cheaper Range Rover).

So the next Freelander will become an entry-level Discovery with underpinnings borrowed from the Evoque (which is itself based on the current Freelander platform, a development of the Ford Galaxy’s platform), and arrive in both 5-seat and 7-seat guise, with the new Discovery ‘5’ getting a platform based on the new Range Rover and perhaps spawning two models.

The new Discovery range will be targeted as a ‘Lifestyle’ core range for Land Rover (much as the original Disco was) and the Range Rover range will be both sporty and luxurious, with a 7-seat Grand Evoque XL joining the current Evoque, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover.

That leaves the Defender range to be sorted as a rugged – yet well-equipped – outdoor adventure SUV with a price point below the new Discovery range.

It’s what Land Rover have been planning for some time, so the report makes a lot of sense. Apart from building the entry-level Discovery on the Evoque platform, which seems a bit odd.