New Discovery has ample Evoque styling

I don't have an issue with the C pillar, looks fine to me, one bit bothering me from the side view is the side air vent trim, just seems to stop abruptly at the door line, and extend as a crease to the rear light, feels more like it should extend onto the door and feed into the line to mirror the rear light end.

I prefer it a lot more to the current Discovery that's for sure, that leaves me cold, but is it where it's market is though?

For a while there I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness as I quite liked it.

Reading this weeks Autocar & AutoExpress they explain the model range with the Freelander replacement in there.

Liking some of the technology and interiors, I hope they make it to production phase and also that they work first time out of the box.

JLR have not done so well on this front recently.

(17-04-2014 07:18am)mark_n Wrote:  Long article in this month's Car Magazine about how they created the new Discovery concept car. Difficult to believe they will make radical changes at this stage. The suicide doors are there to show off the interior and will not make it into production.

There seems to be a dilution of Range Rover DNA into the Land Rover gene pool, they are really pushing the Land Rover brand with RR being pushed even further up market.

We'll understand the strategy, apparently, when the Defender replacement is announced and it sounds like there will be howls of anguish from traditionalists when it is. For now, Gerry McGovern enjoys the support he needs but then so did Bangle at BMW and it's taken them a long time to untangle themselves from that mess.

To be fair, Chris Bangles flame surfacing designs were terrible (IMHO), In general Gerry's designs have been a success. I actually love the Evoque, rr sport and ffrr designs but they do look a bit Russian doll esque. Audi seems to get a bit of flack for making all it's models look the same with only size to differentiate between them. I personally don't find this a problem as it gives a bit of brand identity

One thing for sure is that I don't want the Defender replacement to look anything like an Evoque, Discovery/ Discovery Sport or a Range Rover. For a start they are all way too wide/fat to go where a current Defender can go without severe and very very expensive damage. Now an "after Defender" that has just enough width to allow some proper door mounted arm rests would be acceptable, minimal electronics to pass legally required bits (and then high enough - like mounted in the headlining - not to be easily drowned like the current Defender's electronics can be. Good for LR profits though repairing them!) and a DPF that will not be ruined by deep wading like the current one can need to be taken into account. I have just read an article in Land Rover Owner International magazine where they compare all the current LR products to a Defender to try and work out a 21st Century model and they have come to some great conclusions............ it needs to have the road holding/ on road body control of an current Evoque or RRS, the offroad ability and offroad comfort of a Disco4 or new FFRR and the ability and simplicity of the current Defender all at a price that we can all afford without breaking the bank (ie less than the current Defender's wallet melting price). So Terrain Response is in, air suspension is in, hose out interior is in, sensible sized wheels for offroad in, easily and cheaply repaired panels in (none of the current range of cars has panels that are either easily or cheaply repaired despite most being made of cheap materials or recycled materials) , it will have to be fixable in the back of beyond by a man with no computer diagnostics, and above all it must LOOK like a Land Rover not a Range Rover! Now Gerry MacGovan, see what you can do please! You could start by taking a long hard look at how Renault/ Dacia do it with the Dacia Duster which has caught on like a flu epidemic in the area I live in, there are 100's of them around. Now imagine all those sales being Land Rover badged.............

2 Dacia Duster Pool cars turned up before the winter where I work, just such a cheap and easy option to have some snow capability to pick people up get to where you need, no frills but goes where you need it to when you need it to.