Land Rover Discovery Sport production to end this year

Land Rover Discovery Sport production is set to terminate this December after 11 years, as the European Union’s (EU) updated General Safety Regulation 2 (GSR2) comes into force, Autocar reports.

“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,” a JLR spokesperson told the publication.

While it’s still configurable in the UK (where GSR2 is not a legal requirement), the entry-level Land Rover is no longer available to order in various European markets such as France, Germany and Spain. It first launched in its home market in February 2015, making it the UK’s second-oldest car on sale (the oldest being the September 2014-launched second-gen Volvo XC90), Autocar says.

GSR2, which mandates some safety functions not fitted to the model, comes into force this month, and while other JLR models have been updated to comply, the Disco Sport’s age and comparatively thin profit margins may have made the necessary upgrades unviable. Ditto the petrol Porsche Macan, the publication writes.

The Disco Sport was Land Rover’s best-seller in 2016 (122,000 sold globally), but by 2025 it became its worst-seller (less than 12,200) despite a big 2019 overhaul that included a new platform and interior.

What about the closely-related Evoque that’s built alongside the Disco Sport at Halewood? Range Rover MD Martin Limpert suggested to Autocar recently that there were no immediate plans to wind down the baby Rangie.

“We’ve had a big focus on launching Range Rover (Electric) and Range Rover Sport Electric, which was a big pivotal moment that we had to get over the line. Range Rover GT is the first car built on our new EMA architecture, so obviously there was lots of focus to bring that to life.

“But 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,” he said.

Autocar understands that as the Disco Sport makes way for the RR GT, the Evoque could soldier on until the Defender Sport arrives next year, adding that the latter could serve as a replacement for both the Evoque and Disco Sport, and that the decade-old full-sized Discovery‘s days could too be numbered.