Starting next year, drivers in Winnetka will need to get acclimated to a new name in the Land Rover family: Land Rover Discovery. While the Discovery has been known to European drivers for years, it has been known as the Land Rover LR4 here in North America. In order to increase vehicle quality as well as sales, Land Rover is going to expand the Discovery line to includes more than just the base Discovery.
This new strategy for the Discovery has actually been conducted before with the Range Rover. Younger drivers may not remember this, but there only used to be one version of the Range Rover before the additional models of the Range Rover were introduced, such as the one that's popular among drivers in Winnetka and Northbrook, the 2014 Range Rover Sport. Land Rover is planning to replicate the success of this strategy with the release of the next-gen Discovery.
The Discovery is expected to lose the LR4 name when it hits the shores of the United States, but that's not the only change. The new Discovery is set to be built on the new aluminum frame that Land Rover is debuting, which will help the new vehicle shed pounds. Of course, this frame will also allow the Discovery to be stretched, similar to the long wheelbase version of the Range Rover.
Another model that is expected to be in the Discovery family is the Freelander, which is known as the Land Rover LR2 here in Winnetka. This will likely follow the model of the Range Rover Evoque, with a variety of four-cylinder engines while still retaining off-road capabilities for which new Land Rover vehicles are known.