Hybrid power coming for Land Rover Discovery

Following the Range Rover Sport and its full-size equivalent, as well as the all-new Defender unveiled last year, Land Rover will soon be applying the hybrid touch to the Discovery as evident by a batch of new spy images.

Pictured by Britain’s Autocar undergoing testing, the pre-production test mule, aside from the prominent black-and-white disguise, retains the silhouette of the Discovery, but boasts a concealed grille that could point to the same plug-in setup as the mentioned Range Rover models, whose charging ports are hidden behind a flap integrated into the grille.

According to the publication however, the prototype in question boasts a 48-volt mild-hybrid setup, meaning the same 294kW/550Nm 3.0-litre straight-six engine as the Range Rover Sport HST introduced in February last year as opposed to the Range Rover’s 297kW/640Nm 2.0-litre plug-in hybrid configuration

It is however likely that the mild-hybrid system will be paired with either the four-or-six-cylinder diesel engines that make-up the bulk of the Discovery range in Europe. At present, the hybrid Discovery is anticipated to make its world debut at the end of the year.

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