Next Land Rover Discovery Sport might adopt mid hybrid tech

We recently spotted the 2020 Land Rover Discovery Sport in Spain wearing a production body. The changes are most noticeable at the front, where all the surfaces are designed with straight lines ending in rounded corners. The large air intakes are puzzling, to say the least, since they aren't there just to show yet aren't backed by sporty exhaust pipes.

British magazine Autocar published a comprehensive report about every new LR model until 2024 and said it believes the Discovery Sport will be the second model to switch to the new PTA platform. The architecture is the same as the Evoque II and would allow for hybrid drivetrains.

Combined with the fact that Discovery Sport prototypes were spotted with a second "fuel" door as early as November 2017, it's not out of the question that this will be somewhere between an all-new model and a facelift, a bit like the 2014 Fiesta or the 2019 Mercedes B-Class.

The current generation Discovery Sport has been around for four years and is Land Rover's current best-seller, produced at several factories and sold all over the world. Inside, changes should mirror the new Evoque, following the double-screen standard set by the Velar, but executed less expensively.

The Discovery Sport has quite a wide range of engines. It started out with the 2.2-litre diesel but switched to the Ingenium family back in 2016. And while more cylinders are probably out of the question, less might work. A 1.5-litre 3-cylinder turbo could be available, possible in PHEV form. And with the EU cracking down on emissions, the British SUV might also adopt a mild-hybrid architecture to conserve fuel.