Friday 15th February 2019

Land Rover Discovery SVX cancellation confirmed

The JLR cutbacks claim another victim, as the V8 Discovery's return is officially nixed

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While it's sometimes difficult to keep track of JLR's recent projects, the Discovery SVX was one that lingered more fondly in the memory than most. Why? The chunky, burly, butch off-road aesthetic was certainly part of the appeal, with a 525hp V8 providing the rest. And then some. Who wouldn't have fancied charging across rough terrain in something like this?

Sadly, it would now appear that's never going to happen. Autocar is reporting that, like the Range Rover SV Coupe, the Discovery SVX will now no longer see production. The simple reason being that the V8 engine isn't going to be homologated for any Discovery in the range; no engine means no SVX.

Which seems something of a shame, because the car had every chance of being a fitting flagship for the Disco. That said, Land Rover has suggested that the SVX badge will continue in other models, fulfilling the aim of being the rough and ready SVO car, alongside racy SVR models and super-luxurious SVAutobiographies elsewhere in the range.

Perhaps the SVX's day will come with the new Defender; goodness knows there's appetite for those cars with a V8 engine and some lairy off-road modifications. But the SVX-rated Discovery isn't going to happen, folks - shame. Still, if you fancy a V8 Disco and want to make a real all-terrain warrior of one, this 2001 car is only £3k...

[Macboy]

Loss making company sees sense, cancels project that would not make any money. The end.

[Macboy]

300bhp/ton said:

Macboy said:

Loss making company sees sense, cancels project that would not make any money. The end.

I suspect it's more that fact that this and the new Defender are likely quite similar.

The SVX was hardly an expensive model to make and could very easily have been added as an option. Even without the V8 engine....

I don't agree. This was a niche product and the Defender, whenever it comes, was unlikely to have anyone who'd ordered an SVX wailing and gnashing their teeth that they had been duped. I would imagine that the cost of the project (especially the all-essential V8) versus the potential returns was marginal at the start and much of the project was being spun on "halo". Once the bean counters really got their teeth into this as they have with everything "Halo" and PR is worth precisely nothing.