What about diesels? In Europe you might as well pack up and go home if a product doesn't feature diesel power. Is there any chance oil burners will be part of the North American objective? Quite possibly according to Land Rover's CEO Bob Dover who recently revealed that the British marque intends to test a fleet of diesel powered V6 and V8 Discoverys and Range Rovers in the U.S. The company's goal is to offer them when low-sulfur diesel fuel becomes available in 2006. With regards to the 2005 model, diesel power will come from modified versions of the new and improved Lion/Gemini V6 and V8 range, featuring twin turbochargers. These engines are currently under joint development with Peugeot and Ford of Germany.
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| If the new Discovery maintains the superb off-road talents as the current version (shown here), Ford's influence should be positive. (Photo: Shawn Pisio, Canadian Auto Press) |
In the end, as long as Ford doesn't turn the Discovery into an Explorer with Land Rover styling, therefore maintaining the model's superb off-road talents, the addition of the blue oval's influence could only help. After all, with Land Rover sitting in position 36 of 37 automakers in J. D. Powers and Associate's 2003 Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS), with only Korean manufacturer Kia to its back, is hardly something to brag about.
Quality has always dogged the Discovery, with reliability issues something most weekend warriors would rather not have to think about when scaling a rocky crag 50 miles into the wilderness. The Ford brand, on the other hand, manages 23rd place, while Jaguar a fairly decent 11th, ahead of BMW but nowhere near Lexus in the number one spot. Still, 11th place is a far cry from 36th, and if Ford's meddling can produce similar strides in Land Rover's reliability then who can complain?