Land Rover Defender and Discovery to get separate platforms

The next-generation Land Rover Defender will be built on a separate platform from the next Discovery, Jaguar Land Rover CEO Thierry Bollore has indicated, signaling a split in strategy for the automaker's large utilitarian SUVs.

Currently, the Defender uses a version of Discovery platform and both models are built at JLR's plant in Nitra, Slovakia.

Strong sales of the Defender, however, have cannibalized those of the Discovery, which was Land Rover's slowest selling model in the first quarter of the year at just 3,691 while against 16,963 Defenders were sold during the same period, JLR figures show.

The next Discovery will switch to JLR's forthcoming so-called "battery-native" Electric Modular Architecture (EMA), Bollore indicated.

"The need for the Defender in terms of platform is different from the one that is going to carry Discovery, Discovery Sport, Velar and Evoque," Bollore told the Financial Times online conference last week.

JLR has previously said that the replacements for the Range Rover Evoque and Discovery Sport would be built on EMA but hasn't officially announced other models on the platform.

JLR said in February it expects 300,000 to 400,000 Land Rovers to  be underpinned by the EMA platform, which is scheduled to debut in the company's 2024 financial year (which ends March 31).

JLR hasn't said which model will get to use EMA first, but the next-generation Velar is the most likely candidate.

JLR's previous plan to build most models on the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) was dramatically reversed by Bollore, who joined the company in September last year.

Instead only one variant of the MLA platform, the MLA high, remains. It will underpin the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport, which are due in the next 12 to 18 months.

Jaguars meanwhile will use a separate full-electric platform as part of the brand's reinvention.

Bollore's decision that the next Defender will no long share a platform with the Discovery signals that the Defender will also use the MLA platform, which allows for battery-only models but is designed around a longitudinal positioned combustion engine.

The move would allow Land Rover to better separate the Defender and Discovery, which currently compete too closely for buyers of large, practical premium SUVs.

The Defender will further eat into the Discovery's customer base when Land Rover launches the long-wheelbase 130 seven-seat version in the next 12 to 18 months.

JLR Chief Creative Officer Gerry McGovern told investors in February that future Discovery models would be positioned more toward the Range Rover.

"Our next generation of Discoveries will be moved into that world of luxury, too," he said.

A move to EMA would mean the Discovery would be offered either as a full-hybrid or plug-in hybrid, with a gasoline four-cylinder engine, or as a full-electric vehicle, according to the EMA layout.

Diesel engines are not part of the EMA plan, according to a presentation JLR made to investor in February.

Meanwhile building the Defender on the MLA platform would allow JLR to offer a range of electrified combustion engines, positioning it as a more practical alternative for buyers who aren't ready to move to plug-in drivetrains.

Bollore said in February the company was working to avoid any cannibalization and overlap between Land Rover's SUVs in answer to a question from investors.

"We are very attentive to that in the way we are preparing the next portfolio of products," he said. "We are making sure we are stretching upward enough and distinguishing the products and these families enough to make sure there is no confusion."

McGovern said JLR is looking to expand the Defender offering even further.

"When we launched Defender, we talked about a family of Defenders: coupe, five door [and now the long-wheelbase] 130," McGovern told investors. "We're looking at what we can do with that brand because with relatively small investment we can increase its appeal. I'm absolutely convinced Defender will become a power brand in itself."