Next Land Rover Freelander will be sold under Discovery moniker

We all know that Land Rover is working on the next generation Freelander, and the prototypes of the vehicle has been caught testing several times on streets. Meanwhile, a surprising news has broke out that the next generation of the Land Rover Freelander will be sold in the market under the Defender nameplate.

Rumors were on rife that Land Rover will drop the Freelander nameplate for the next generation model and will get an all-new moniker. According to British media, the car will be sold with Defender moniker. Codenamed L550, the next generation Freelander will be called as baby Discovery and will sit below the full sized model.

According to autoexpress, the official details of the new Discovery range will come in the first half of 2014, which is also the time of the Discovery's 25th anniversary. The production version of the vehicle is likely to be showcased at the next year's Paris Motor Show. The baby Defender will go out of production by the mid 2015.

The decision to re-brand the next generation Freelander is the part of Land Rover's new long-term strategy to have three distinctive pillars in its model lineup. The first pillar will be a "Luxury" with the trio Range Rovers and an additional high end Range Rover Ultimate, which will be showcased at the Dubai Motor Show in November, 2013. A long wheelbase Range Rover is also under construction, which will be showcased at the next month's Los Angeles Auto Show.

The second pillar, named as "Dual Purpose", will feature the revamped Defender family, while the "Leisure" pillar will contain the Discovery. The latter will be more rugged than the stylish Range Rovers. It will be made available as a five-seater, however, a 5+2 seater model is already planned.

The next generation Freelander, or baby Discovery will come equipped with new engines, interiors and body panels. This is all what we have for now, stay tuned to CarDekho for more updates on the same.

Source: autoexpress.co.uk