2021 Land Rover Discovery Coming With Updated Looks Which We Can’t Yet See

Land Rover unveiled its 3rd-generation Discovery SUV back in 2017 and while it could best its predecessors in every conceivable way, its design has been somewhat of a talking point, especially that tailgate with the offset license plate slot.

Thankfully, the British carmaker will get a chance to fix all that on the facelifted variant, which has just begun testing on public roads in prototype form. Right off the bat, something’s wrong with this picture.

For one, there doesn’t seem to be anything different about this prototype. It might as well not even wear any camouflage, because as far as we can tell, both the front and rear fascias are identical to the ones on the current car.

Watch: Land Rover Discovery Plays Tug Of War With Toyota Land Cruiser, Audi Q7 And VW Touareg

However, it is common practice in the industry for carmakers to send out prototypes wearing old body panels at first, before strapping on some production-ready bits nearer to the car’s actual unveiling, which in this case should take place sometime later this year.

So what can we expect? Well, let’s look at the Disco’s baby brother, the Sport for answers. When the updated Discovery Sport was unveiled last year, it came with a new grille, plus updated headlight and taillight graphics (same shapes though).

We could see more of the same on the updated Discovery too, meaning the singular DRL graphic out front could be replaced by a dual light strip setup (like on the Sport), while the rear units should light up in a more modern fashion as well. But we’re just guessing as of right now.

There’s also time for Land Rover to strap on a more conservative-looking tailgate, one with a centered license plate holder – which we suspect they might do.

Inside, the dashboard could do with a bit more streamlining, more modern-looking gauge dials (probably digital), a larger and more capable infotainment system, new trim and so on. The carmaker’s latest steering wheel design is a given, as seen on the likes of the Range Rover Velar or the new Evoque.

Otherwise, expect an updated range of four- and six-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines, and possibly even a plug-in hybrid unit too.