Editor’s letter: Can Land Rover turn Discovery into a brand?

Land Rover sold just 11,000 examples of the Discovery last year

JLR's new agency model showrooms will divide Defender, Discovery, Jaguar and Range Rover

Jaguar Land Rover’s switch to the agency model next year is a seismic one, yet it could have the unintended consequence of shining the spotlight on the strength and positioning of one of its models. 

As part of the agency shift, each of the firm’s dealerships will get four distinct areas to become what the firm calls a ‘house of brands’ – creating, in essence, four distinct brands. No longer will it be Jaguar and Land Rover, but Jaguar, Range Rover, Defender and Discovery. 

*Jaguar, Defender, Discovery and Range Rover split in JLR agency shift*

Jaguar’s reinvention for 2025 and the challenges and opportunities that come with it are well publicised. Range Rover looks after itself as a brand, and seems entirely logical to promote as such, as does Defender. Both of these are incredibly sharp in their positioning and brand appeal. Indeed, in JLR’s most recent results, it said that the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender account for almost three quarters of its entire order bank. 

JLR’s 2022 numbers are skewed not only by the chip shortage it felt harder than most, but also it being a changeover year for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. Yet even so, the four-strong Range Rover line-up carried the marque through the storm; even the smaller-selling Velar (27,000 units) sold at least a quarter more than its sister car and biggest-selling Jaguar, the F-Pace (21,000 units), and two and a half times that of the Discovery (11,000).

Simply put, the Range Rover range (155,000 sales out of 269,000 Land Rovers last year) goes from strength to strength, and the expansion of it has been a near unqualified success. It is worthy of being considered a brand in its own right.

The Defender, meanwhile, was JLR’s biggest-selling model, outselling the entire Jaguar range combined. Again, the chips were diverted here due to its success and profitability, but it was built, and the buyers came. An expansion of the Defender range beyond changes in wheelbase lengths, doors and seats can’t come soon enough, yet already the strength of the Defender name far exceeds that of many other brands.

But what of the Discovery? JLR sold 67,000 Defenders in 2022, but just 48,000 Discovery Sport and Discovery models combined – the latter’s 11,000 units meaning it was outsold more than six times over by the Defender with which it shares a factory.

Is Discovery strong enough to be a brand, then? It does have the feel of a third wheel to it, not only based on the numbers but also the positioning of the brand itself.

When the current, fifth-generation Discovery came out, it was seen as being too close to a Range Rover without the extra badge appeal. When the Defender came out, many remarked it felt as much a successor to the Discovery 4 than to the legendary original 4x4 from which it took its name. I can remember someone at the company telling me at the Discovery’s launch its positioning would make more sense when the Defender came out, yet if anything the opposite has played out. And whereas the link between a Range Rover Evoque and a full-size Range Rover is clear, the same cannot be said of the Discovery Sport and Discovery.

This Discovery is now six years old, and a successor is planned to arrive around 2025 with an electric option. Car makers are making tough decisions everywhere in axing mainstays of their ranges in preparation for an electric future, yet seemingly the Discovery will not suffer this same fate. 

Instead, Land Rover is backing itself to strike gold again as it has done over several times over the past couple of decades in finding new segments, and rebooting its icons. It needs to go to the well again in creating the new Discovery, as a like-for-like replacement will struggle to cut it as a car, let alone create a brand.