Land Rover has revealed the new Discovery sport based on a new platform along with a new electrified engine and interiors. The Discovery Sport has been Land Rover’s best seller and accounts for nearly 1,00,000 units sold last year. Recently sales have given in to new rivals and this new heavily updated Discovery Sport is expected to revive the brand’s sales figures.
The new platform is called the Premium Transverse Architecture which is also used by the second generation Range Rover Evoque. The new platform can be adapted to a 48V mild-hybrid electric engine that was introduced on the Evoque. Earlier, the SUV used Land Rover’s D8 platform which has been replaced by the new one mentioned above.
On the exterior, the Discovery Sport features revised front and rear bumpers, LED headlamps a revamped grille and body mouldings. The interior on the Discovery Sport features the latest infotainment system with a 10.25-inch touchscreen system integrated with Apple CarPlay and Andriod Auto. The instrument cluster is a fully digital 12.3-inch unit along with a colour Heads-Up display.
The mild-hybrid system uses an engine mounted belt-integrated generator coupled to the battery. The base-spec engine which is the only non-hybrid model is powered by a D150 diesel engine with an engine displacement of 1,999cc producing 150 HP of power and 380 Nm of torque coupled to a 6-speed manual transmission available only in a front wheel drive option. The top-spec HSE petrol variant comes in a P250 Mild-Hybrid Electric Vehicle (MHEV) 1999cc producing 249 HP of power and 365 Nm of torque coupled to a 9-speed automatic ZF gearbox. Another diesel option is a D240 MHEV engine with an engine displacement of 1,999cc producing 240 HP of power and 500 Nm of torque with a 9-speed ZF automatic transmission. Both the higher spec models come with an All Wheel Drive.
The all-wheel-drive system features Land Rover’s terrain response 2 and comes with four drive modes along with an ‘Auto’ option, that automatically detects and adapts to the terrain conditions. It can also disconnect power to the rear wheels, and only the front wheels drive the vehicle when the car is cruising to increase efficiency.
The Discovery Sport features Adaptive Dynamics on the suspension which detects the road conditions and the vehicle’s movements and adjusts the variable suspension dampers to make the ride comfortable.
The exterior dimensions of the car measure at 4597mm in length, 2173mm in width, 1727mm in height with a wheelbase of 2741mm. The Land Rover Discovery Sport is a capable off-road vehicle and offers an approach angle of 25 degrees, a departure angle of 30 degrees, ramp break over angle of 20 degrees and a ground clearance of 212mm.
The new Discovery Sport is available in Sport, S, SE, HSE trim options along with an R-Dynamic version with additional features.
The current Discovery Sport in India is priced between INR 44.68 to 61.95 lakh ex-showroom, India. As of now, there is no update on the launch dates, but the new Discovery Sport is expected to be launched in India by 2020.
