THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO? THE DEFENDER THREAT

The new Defender might do to the Discovery what Land Rover feared the original Discovery might do to the Range Rover 30 years ago: steal the existing car’s sales. But this time, the cannibalism might prove fatal.

The ‘big’ Disco is now easily LR’s worst-selling vehicle, with 41,000 made in the last financial year, down 14 per cent on the previous year. The full-fat Range Rover came secondlast but sold 40 per cent more. The RR Sport sold twice as many as the Disco, and the Discovery Sport topped the chart with 88,000 shifted, even as it awaited its recent refresh.

This isn’t entirely the current Disco 5’s fault, although it hasn’t been an unalloyed success with the critics, not least for its looks, and that o set rear number plate in particular. Its main problem is that it now competes with five siblings rather than two. The original Disco made a better family car than the original Defender or Range Rover, but the Evoque, Velar and Disco Sport are now the better choice for many families: wieldier and with less emphasis on bouldercrawling ability.

Those who still buy the big Disco because they like a proper, voluminous o -roader are very likely to have their heads turned by the new Defender 110. Unlike the ’89 Discovery, the 2020 Defender isn’t going to be cheaper than the car it threatens: in fact at £51,750 a Defender 110 will be four grand more than a Disco with the same 237bhp four-cylinder diesel and entry-level S trim. But it won’t need to be cheaper to win Disco buyers. It shares the Discovery’s D7 chassis, air springs and boot space, so it will now at least match the Discovery where it once lagged on refinement and versatility. It is also a lot cooler.

So it’s not unthinkable that as JLR restructures, possibly under new owners, the big Discovery could be killed o in a cost-cutting product rationalisation, particularly if sales continue to head south towards 30,000. The new Defender is likely to be the chief cause of that. Et tu, Brute?