New Land Rover Discovery banks on petrol power

With five petrol variants on offer from the get-go, this is the first time that a new Land Rover is riding high on gasoline power in India. 

As you might already know by now, Land Rover has started accepting pre-orders for the all-new Discovery in India. The prices of the new SUV have been announced as well and Land Rover will formally launch the new Discovery in the country on October 28, 2017. Customer deliveries will begin soon after that, beginning November.

While all the details on the India-spec Discovery are out, it’s interesting to see that Land Rover is banking heavily on petrol powertrains with the new SUV. Sure, there are five diesel variants on offer, but, surprisingly, there are five petrol trims to choose from as well – something which hasn’t been seen in this segment before. Given the Centre’s latest report which says that diesel car sales have fallen to 27 per cent in 2016-17 (vs 34 per cent in 2015-16), it’s kind of understood why Land Rover has so many petrol variants on offer with the new Discovery.

As for the petrol engine in the new Discovery, it’s a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 motor that churns out 335bhp and 450Nm of torque. The engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. Four-wheel drive is standard. Performance wise, the petrol-powered Discovery will hit 0-100km/h in 7.1 seconds, before hitting a top speed of 215km/h.

In comparison to the new Discovery, there aren’t many petrol alternatives in this segment. The Audi Q7, for instance, is not available with any petrol variant, while the Volvo XC90 is only available with a plug-in T8 hybrid petrol version – which at Rs 95 lakh is priced quite steeply, you've to say. The Mercedes GLE and BMW X5 are available with petrol engine options, albeit both can be had in just one trim. So, has Land Rover nailed it with the new Discovery petrol? Well, only time will tell...

Also read: All-new Land Rover Discovery prices announced