JLR to reposition Discovery lineup amid sales slump

LONDON -- JLR (formerly Jaguar Land Rover) is working to define a future role for its slow-selling Discovery brand, which has been eclipsed by the success of the automaker’s hot-selling Defender.

Demand for the  Discovery and Discovery Sport SUVs has dropped steeply, while the Defender has become the automaker’s bestseller after its relaunch in 2020 as a more luxurious and high-tech vehicle compared with the original utilitarian post-Second World War model.

First introduced in 1989 as bridge between the Defender off-roader and the upscale Range Rover, the Discovery’s appeal has waned in recent years.

“There is no hiding: Discovery is not performing to the same level as the other two [Range Rover and Defender],” JLR CEO Adrian Mardell told Autocar magazine.

Mardell said a team is now working on a definition that would help the company successfully reposition Discovery within JLR’s so-called House of Brands.

“We need to create a design and business model that is going to be successful,” Mardell said. “We have not given the team the time to do that yet, because we were focusing on the Defender. Now we have moved people into the Discovery house.”

JLR has reorganized its product portfolio into four brands – Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar.

The Discovery was Land Rover’s worst-selling model in the quarter ended June 30 with global sales of 4,354 units. The Discovery Sport, related to the Range Rover Evoque compact, was Land Rover’s second slowest-selling model in the quarter with 7,022 units sold.

The Defender was the JLR’s biggest seller with 27,616 units sold, company figures show.

The Discovery brand is the problematic within JLR because its focus on family-friendly space and practicality is also covered by the Defender.

JLR will expand the current Defender lineup to include a battery-electric version and create a smaller Defender on the new electric EMA platform, the company said during an investor day in June.

A replacement for the Range Rover Evoque is also expected on the EMA platform, as is a new Discovery, analysts were told.

The next full-size Defender will sit on the same MLA platform as the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, Mardell said in a separate interview with Auto Express.

However, he said that the full-size Discovery will not follow the Defender onto MLA, despite the two models sharing the same D7 platform currently. 

“We know it's not going to come off MLA, because we just will not be able to get an affordable proposition off MLA. We know it has to come off EMA because that is the only other one for Land Rover,” Mardell said.

High margins, Jaguar overhaul

JLR has returned to profitability on a strategy of focusing on larger, higher-margin SUVs such as the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender.

The company is also finalizing its reinvention of Jaguar, which will move into the ultraluxury space with an all-electric lineup.

Jaguar is JLR’s most problematic brand with “no equity whatsoever,” Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern said at the investor day.

McGovern is leading a design-lead overhaul the launch of three models promising to be a “copy of nothing” starting with a four-door GT in 2025.