Crowning the repositioned Discovery brand will be a new halo model. It is being developed by JLR’s SVO bespoke division, the team responsible for the Defender Octa and Range Rover SV.
Like those cars, the Discovery flagship will have its own new bespoke performance nameplate, as part of JLR’s continued push to put distance between its four brands.
Speaking to Autocar, SVO boss Jamal Hameedi said the car will be positioned with “its own special interpretation of what flagship means” for the Discovery brand.
This design freedom is a result of the division’s clean-sheet approach, which means “we can do whatever we want; we’ve broken the chains of the formula”, said Hameedi.
However, such freedom can be “a little unnerving”, he added, as well as “really exciting… because you can go in completely different directions” from before.
“It is challenging because you’re innovating and creating as you go along,” said Hameedi.
“For example, if we would have done the Octa as an SV, we would have had a formula to what we needed to do. But this is not an SV so we had to change the rules.”