JLR confirms end of Discovery Sport production in December

JLR South Africa is yet to confirm whether sales of the Discovery Sport will cease before the end of 2026 of continue into run-out in 2027. Its most recent update having taken place in 2019, JLR has reportedly confirmed that the Discovery Sport will exit production in December after what will be 11 years. Over for the smallest “Land Rover” Known internally as the L550, the Sport, then still known as the Land Rover Discovery Sport, replaced the Freelander as the smallest “Land Rover” model, yet still shared a number of visual cues as well as early petrol and diesel engine options. Since then, a series of smaller updates have taken place and special editions added, the most recent being the introduction of the Landmark and Metropolitan models for the South African market last year. What’s next? At the time reported as being the likely final update, Britain’s Autocar, citing an unnamed JLR spokesperson, confirmed that the Discovery Sport will see out 2026, but not enter 2027. “Discovery Sport production will end in December 2026, in line with normal product lifecycles. As part of this transition there will be a managed sunset of manufacturing ahead of this date for certain markets,” the spokesperson told the publication. While no further details were provided, speculation has mounted that the Sport’s indirect replacement will come in the shape of the newly teased all-electric Range Rover GT. Evoque and Velar going nowhere More uncertain is the future of the Sport’s platform sibling, the Range Rover Evoque, which entered its eighth year of production of this year as the entry-level Range Rover model. Range Rover Evoque will, seemingly, continue even after the debut of the incoming all-electric GT. Picture: JLR South Africa In a related statement to the publication, though, Range Rover brand Managing Director, Martin Limpert, hinted at the prolonging of not only the Evoque, but also the Velar long believed to be facing axe in favour of the GT. “We also refreshed the Range Rover Evoque two-and-a-half years ago, and we have launched the market editions for the Evoque and Velar to keep them present in the marketplace. We have loyal audiences for these cars, and we can’t do everything at once”. Final farewell Locally, the Defender Sport range has whittled down to only the Landmark and Metropolitan variants powered by a choice of two engines. In the D200, the familiar 2.0-litre Ingenium turbodiesel produces 147kW/430Nm, while the plug-in hybrid P300e combines a 1.5-litre three-cylinder turbo-petrol with a 14.9-kWh battery pack powering a single electric motor for a combined output of 227kW/540Nm. Sending drive to all four wheels falls to a ZF-sourced nine-speed automatic on the D200 and a hybrid specific eight-speed automatic on the P300e, which has a claimed all-electric range of 61 km. The variants expected to see the Discovery Sport range out, chances are that JLR South Africa will start withdrawing it before production ends. Price As before, all Discovery Sport models’ sticker prices include a five-year/100 000 km maintenance plan and, in the case of the P300e, an eight-year/100 000 km battery pack warranty. Discovery Sport D200 Landmark – R1 362 900 Discovery Sport P300e Landmark – R1 740 500 Discovery Sport D200 Metropolitan – R1 427 900 Discovery Sport P300e Metropolitan – R1 825 600