Land Rover’s New York-bound ‘Discovery Vision Concept’ will debut new sub-brand

Good news British 4×4 fans: The Land Rover Discovery is back … but not how you might have hoped.

We’ve been speculating a lot lately on Land Rover’s next move. Its iconic Defender is being sent out to pasture, and its LR4 (aka ‘Discovery’ globally) is overdue for a revamp.

After the flop of its DC100 concept, Land Rover seemed unsure how to proceed. Rumor that the British brand had copyrighted the “Landy” moniker emphasized that lost feeling.

Now, though, Land Rover announced that it’ll be bringing an all-new concept to the 2014 New York Auto Show later this month called the “Discovery Vision Concept”. Intriguingly, the car won’t just show a new direction for the LR4. Instead, it’ll preview a whole new line of premium family SUVs.

Gerry McGovern, Design Director and Chief Creative Officer for Land Rover commented, “Discovery has been pivotal in helping to build the foundations of the Land Rover brand.  It is admired all over the world and loved by its strong customer base. We have created the Vision Concept to share the essence of Land Rover’s new age of Discovery and to debut a new, compelling, relevant design direction that connects on an emotional level with customers of today and tomorrow.”

For decades, Land Rover only offered three models: The Defender, the Discovery (later rebadged LR3 and then LR4), and the Range Rover. Then it split Range Rover into its own brand with the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, and Range Rover Evoque.

Now the Discovery will get the same treatment. Perhaps its underlings will include the spiritual successor to the Defender.

I don’t know yet what lies in store for the new Discovery brand and its sub models. Whatever shape they take and whatever name they carry, I just hope they’ll be less of a mouthful than “Land Rover Range Rover Evoque”.