Land Rover Discovery 'capability testing'

Land Rover exploits child labour in latest new Discovery teaser vid

There, that made the Land Rover press office go a bit pale ... possibly. Let's be clear, we're not talking sweatshops or anything like that. But let's just say as part of demonstrating the new Discovery's abilities the families of the development team have been drafted in and ... helped with this latest instalment in the prolonged teaser campaign.

What follows is either cute and heartfelt or as cheesy as an extra large Domino's Stuffed Crust and possibly aimed more at Mumsnet than PH. Suffice to say the first two minutes of this three-minute vid are probably worth skipping if your interest is in the new Discovery rather than the drawing talents of a bunch of under-10s.

The message is clear though. And - guess what - the family friendly seven-seater configuration is once again taking centre stage, before some fairly standard test track axle-twisting and mud plugging to underscore it can do the Land Rover stuff too. We'll assume all this noise about seating, family friendliness and all that is to hammer home the different focus the Discovery has from Range Rover Sport range it'll inevitably overlap with in price and, to a certain extent, target audience. Obviously the Sport is a five-seater only but it's safe to say those stepping into a Land Rover dealership after the official Discovery unveiling at the end of the month won't be spoiled for choice. With the Range Rover line-up covering off the premium/aspirational/luxury end of the market it's left to the Discovery to play the muddy wellies/family friendly card. And for those stepping up from a Discovery Sport - similar in name and ethos only - the 'proper' Discovery will be the premium way for those with larger families to get about.

To reassure those wary the new Discovery is all going a bit lifestyle the accompanying press release goes large on the usual testing stats, these including 35,000 tests for a fleet of 294 vehicles in 20 countries and taking in everything from +40deg heat in the sands of Dubai to sub-zero equivalents in Sweden. You'll be glad to hear the Intelligent Seat Fold system was given a thorough work out in all these environments and scenarios too.

Land Rover official teaser

Land Rover testing video

Bear Grylls teaser 7/9/2016

The inability to remotely reconfigure the seating arrangement in a family SUV via our smartphones hasn't, in all honesty, been a first world problem that keeps us awake at night. Maybe we just don't fit the demographic - if there's anyone out there with a seven-seater car whose lifestyle requirements are seriously cramped by the lack of such a feature by all means set us right.

But the Intelligent Seat Fold system is the one innovation in the all-new Discovery - teased yesterday ahead of its Paris show launch - Land Rover has decided to focus on, with a little help from a slightly tenuous YouTube stunt carried out yesterday by Bear Grylls. Given the real-world example Land Rover offers as a benefit of the system is adjusting the seating layout from your phone while queuing at the supermarket checkout you can understand the motivation for wanting to find a more dynamic way of demonstrating the feature. But is this REALLY the most exciting feature of the new car? We've got a little longer before we know for sure as Land Rover drip-feeds the information in the build-up to the full unveiling.

According to Land Rover, the rear two rows of seats can be reconfigured in 14 seconds using the app. The benefit of course is that drivers will no longer have to faff with raising and lowering seats, Land Rover in fact claiming it's a "true milestone in convenience delivered through technological innovation".

Beyond the app, the seats can also be moved or folded by switches on the C-pillar as well as the main touchscreen display. Here's hoping children can't operate the seats while in motion...

In the meantime if you're free-falling out of a plane and thinking 'damn, I forgot to configure the seating in my car to accommodate my skydiving pals for the drive to the pub' rest assured there will be an InControl app to address that.

Bear Grylls Discovery stunt

Original teaser as published 6/9/2016:

The new Land Rover Discovery will be making its official debut just ahead of the Paris show at the end of the month so as that date approaches expect plenty of PR noise. Yes, the Discovery is a big deal for Land Rover so it will be making a big fuss.

In the way of things the first instalment of the official release info is this teaser image. Well, it's actually quite revealing given the usual format of these things. No back-lit outline or obscure cropped detail - bang, here it is! And as we'd kind of got from the previous spy shots the new car is very much on-message with Land Rover's current design language and evolved from the look introduced with the Discovery Sport.

As you are probably aware, Discovery is now a range in its own right, not a single model in the Land Rover line-up as it once was. The Discovery Sport basically picks up where the Freelander left off and is a more practical equivalent to the Range Rover Evoque - Land Rover would probably beg to differ but we all know the natural terrain for such vehicles is more likely the school run or urban commute than bashing up mountains like the original Discovery. As yet we don't have any details about the new one beyond that it is a "full-sized seven-seat SUV" and "created with absolute versatility, capability and technology like no other". In a release accompanying this picture design boss Gerry McGovern describes it as "a hugely capable premium SUV", underlining the fact this operates in a very different class to the Sport.

More details will no doubt be forthcoming shortly but from the look of it the new Discovery has somewhat stepped away from the utilitarian appearance of its predecessors, though its position in the range will still very much be of a car for those who do Land Rovery type stuff. As such expect plenty of off-road cred and, we'll assume, pictures of it towing sailing boats and horseboxes in due course.

Stay tuned!

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David87

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