The Discovery’s switch to Land Rover’s aluminium construction slashes around 480kg from the car’s weight. This, in turn, has allowed Land Rover to plumb in additional safety kit, plusher materials and greater soundproofing – as well as introducing Jaguar Land Rover’s Ingenium 2.0-litre four-cylinder diesel to the line-up.
The four-pot Discovery will be the cleanest model in the line-up at launch – although it seems inconceivable that the car won’t benefit from some of JLR’s extensive work on plug-in hybrid technology during its lifetime. Badged SD4 and paired with a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox, the 2.0-litre model will have 237bhp and 500Nm of torque – enough for a 0-60mph time of 8.0 seconds – but return 43.5mpg and 171g/km of CO2 emissions.