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The Land Rover Discovery has been treated to a pair of special editions and some subtle updates in a bid to sustain its appeal as it enters its eighth year on sale. 

The primary additions for the 2026 model year are a pair of new special-edition Discovery models that JLR says have been designed to "honour Discovery's 35-year legacy with subtle nods to the model's history in their names".

The 'Tempest' special edition takes its name from the codename used for the second-generation Discovery in the run-up to its launch in 1998. Available in a choice of three colours, it comes with a matte protective film, a contrasting copper roof and trim details, bespoke badging and bespoke wheel designs. 

The 'Gemini' edition, meanwhile, is named as a nod to the original Discovery's turbodiesel engine. Available in six colours and with similar bespoke trim elements, it also brings special Gemini badging, a cooler compartment in the back seat, device holders on the seatbacks and three-zone climate control as standard. 

In addition to the new special editions, JLR has rolled out a trio of 'curated' accessory packs: Beach Days, Road Trip and Snow Days - each equipped with a suitable selection of optional extras.

There have been no changes under the skin, so the Discovery continues to be offered exclusively with the mild-hybrid, 3.0-litre Ingenium D350 diesel straight six, which develops 345bhp and 516lb ft give a 0-62mph time of 6.3secs, up to 33.4mpg and a towing capacity of 3500kg. 

Prices for the freshened-up Discovery start at £64,810, or £63,775 for the van-backed Commercial variant.

The updates come nearly nine years since the current-generation car was revealed at the 2016 Paris motor show, making the seven-seater comfortably JLR's oldest model line.

Despite its age, though the Discovery remains an important part of the company's global line-up, even as it enters its eighth year on the market; in the 12 months to the end of March, JLR recorded more than 14,000 Discovery sales - which is more than the Jaguar F-Pace sold in its final year in production.

However, while the Discovery remains a relatively steady seller, it continues to slip further into the shadow of the closely related, yet vastly more popular Defender - which sold more than eight times as many units last year. 

Work is under way on a next-generation Discovery model, with the priority being to more clearly distinguish it from the Defender and move it into its own "unique territory" - though JLR has not given any indication of when that new car might arrive.

Polestar will show the final version of its new electric super-saloon at the Munich motor show in September.

Remaining largely true to the radical Precept concept that the brand showed in 2020, the Polestar 5 is a Porsche Taycan rival with “supercar levels” of stiffness from a British-engineered chassis, an 800V electrical architecture for 'extreme fast-charging' and nearly 900bhp in its most potent form.

Polestar has revealed some of the headline specifications and showed a near production-ready prototype back in 2023, but it will give full details and unveil the interior of its long-awaited flagship at Munich in autumn.

Described as a “company-defining project”, the 5 is the first model to be built on a new scalable aluminium architecture that's bespoke to Polestar and has been engineered at the firm's development centre at the MIRA proving ground.

This platform will also underpin the drop-top Polestar 6 sports car that's due in 2026.

Polestar has confirmed the 5's new rapid-charging technology allows for 100 miles of range to be added in just five minutes without degrading the life of the battery.

CEO Michael Lohscheller suggested to Autocar that the introduction of 800V architecture is a technical highlight of the new 5, saying: "The charging time comes down to 18 or 19 minutes. This is really, really good. You will have to hurry to get your coffee in while you wait for the charging."

This technology, called extreme fast-charging (XFC), is a collaboration between Polestar and StoreDot, a charging company that Polestar has invested in.

StoreDot pioneered XFC initially on a mobile phone that could be fully charged in five minutes. XFC can be integrated into existing battery technology and doesn't require “a battery pack design revolution”, according to Polestar.

Polestar and StoreDot successfully demonstrated it on a full-sized working 5 prototype last year.

"It's a game-changer as it uses traditional lithium ion and then adapts it for fast charging," StoreDot CEO Doron Myersdorf told Autocar previously.

StoreDot manufactures the lithium ion pouch cells with silicon anodes but is investigating using it on hard-case prismatic cells too.

Polestar has already confirmed a power output for the 5 of 874bhp and 663lb ft of torque from its twin electric motors, which provide four-wheel drive. The more powerful rear motor produces 604bhp alone.

The 5 is an evolution of 2020's imposing Precept concept. Only the concept's most outlandish features – its heavily accentuated side creases, ultra-slim digital wing mirrors, reverse-opening rear doors and oversized alloy wheels – have been casualties of the homologation process.

Polestar has also said its flagship electric car will tout “supercar levels” of body stiffness from the all-new platform, which will also be the lightest in its class.

The 5’s body is constructed chiefly from bonded aluminium, with other sections made from hot-formed, cold-formed, die-cast and extruded aluminium.

It’s this bonded aluminium construction that affords the car “supercar levels of torsional stiffness, which is fundamental to class-leading ride and handling dynamics”, said Polestar UK chief engineer Dave Kane.

The battery pack, the size of which hasn't yet been specified, is then integrated into the platform.

UK R&D boss Pete Allen added that a goal for the 5 is to “deliver best-in-class levels of dynamics and that starts with the structure”. To that end, the 5’s body offers “carbonfibre levels of torsional stiffness, like a two-door sports model”.

The Taycan is an obvious rival to the 5 and Polestar is understood to have one at its MIRA facility for benchmarking purposes. However, the Swedish manufacturer wants to create a car with more everyday compliance and a rounded edge, rather than chasing truly sports car-like handling.

“It needs to be engaging but also comfortable,” said Steve Swift, director of vehicle engineering. “We can push the car in a dynamic direction or a comfort direction without totally sacrificing one or the other.”

Further developments include motorsport-derived underbody aerodynamics and a slippery body shape.

“It’s an extremely low car [for an electric car],” said Allen. “Not as low as an internal- combustion-engine car but close, and they don’t have batteries underneath. That has been a particular challenge.”

Much of the engineering work on the 5 is being done with future Polestar products in mind. There’s “a lot of scalability” in the new platform, said Swift. “You start with a car first, then look at the products in other spaces, then how many of those spaces we can play in while designing it once. It’s part of the future, definitely.”

The 6 will be the second model to be built on the new architecture, and the two models will be built alongside one another in the same factory from 2026, when the 6 launches a year after the 5 arrives.

First ride: Polestar 5 prototype review

As a means of getting familiar with an all-new car, passenger rides are a bit of a blunt instrument. But sometimes the car in question does something so novel, and does it so effortlessly, that it doesn’t matter which seat you’re sitting in because the cat’s just as far out of the bag. 

This is what happens during our passenger ride in a leggy, pre-production Polestar 5 on the Dunlop dry handling circuit at the MIRA proving ground – a circuit Autocar road testers know quite well because it’s where we set the magazine’s benchmarking lap times.

After some chit-chat about the Porsche Taycan-rivalling 5 being "an opportunity to mature the Polestar brand" in dynamic terms, the project’s principal vehicle dynamics engineer – 31-year-old Chris Baguley – without warning delicately backs its low, camouflaged form into one of the course’s two inviting hairpin bends, unsticks the back axle with an injection of torque and then rides out an enormous, graceful powerslide.

To onlookers, the sight would be akin to what you’d get if you parsed a fully lit 'E39' BMW M5 through Syd Mead’s imagination. More to the point, it’s the kind of antic that flies in the face of the controlled but po-faced dynamic identity Polestar has so far shown with its electric saloons and crossovers.

Getting something so rippling with torque, and with such a long wheelbase, to behave like this isn’t hard, but what’s surprising – and noticeable even from the passenger seat – is the sense of finesse. Pedigree, even.

Perhaps this isn’t too surprising, either, given the 5 has been developed not from an existing Volvo platform at Polestar HQ in Gothenburg, or in China, where it’ll be assembled. Instead, it’s being brought to life here at MIRA, from scratch, by a predominantly British team of engineers with backgrounds at Lotus and McLaren, among other AAA-grade handling schools – and it shows.

The way the 5’s tail moves out of line then slips back in is, sorry for the cliché, buttery. This purely rear-driven example also seems the forgiving sort. Baguley can boot it mid-corner, when we’re already very sideways, and on its bespoke Michelins the 5 – sustaining yaw all the way – punches out of medium-speed bends at a rate you’d be happy even were you not frittering drive away by showboating. The 5 feels hooked up, composed, and on the way into bends resists understeer better than expected.

Concrete technical details about the 5 are currently scarce and will remain so until we’re closer to the car’s launch. However, beyond a BMW M-car-esque penchant for oversteer, our passenger ride unearths some intriguing elements as well as giving a fair glimpse of the car’s broader character. One unexpected thing is that the 5 will ride on a passive suspension set-up – no, no air springs here, or even selectable modes.

This feels like a big call for a car with what will surely be a six-figure price, though on the far from smooth Dunlop circuit, the 5 does show a natural poise with good suppleness. Potholes and poor roads will be harder to subdue.

Next up is rear passenger space, which is enormous. Honestly, in the back the Polestar makes the Taycan feel like a Volkswagen Lupo, and not just in terms of leg room but also in terms of atmosphere. The glass canopy is vast and visibility through the front of the cabin, then out of the massively raked windscreen, is excellent.

If – if – the car’s ride quality at MIRA translates onto public roads and is matched with fine isolation (at MIRA the pared-back cabin of our development car is predictably whiney and roar-y at speed) the 5 will be a class act. Special mention also goes to the low dash scuttle: up front there’s just a touch of supercar to the ambience.

I just hope the steering is up to the mark. In this area, Polestar’s efforts so far have been lacklustre, but clearly the 5 is like no other Polestar so far.

Will it really stand up to the outstanding Taycan? On this evidence, quite possibly. The mechanical recipe is disarmingly simple – no air springs, or rear steering, no active anti-roll bars, and in this case just one driven axle – but clearly it’s all very deftly tuned. There’s something appealingly old-school about this method, though the aesthetic will be anything but.

As Baguley puts it: "We want to challenge the Taycan in this space – to do something differently and prove that a bit of a refresh is not always a bad thing."

Ride impressions by Richard Lane

The DS 4 has been given a heavy update, bringing in a fresh look, a new name and the option of an electric powertrain for the first time.

The C-segment hatchback has been the French brand’s best-seller in the UK since its 2021 launch, albeit with just 2300 sales. 

While it has done much better in Europe, amassing 10,405 sales in 2024, DS is struggling, with overall deliveries dipping 22.4% last year. 

It was recently suggested that parent company Stellantis was ready to offload DS last year, but instead it has publicly backed the brand.

In a bid to rejuvenate itself, DS has brought to market a new flagship SUV in the No8 and given its best-seller a wide-reaching update.

This starts with a new name, No4, which follows last year’s new SUV and is part of an effort to move DS back into the premium sphere.

Yet, it will be the addition of an electric variant that should give the model added appeal – especially in the UK, where manufacturers are pressed to sell an increased number of EVs. 

Using the same powertrain as the similarly sized Peugeot e-408 and recently facelifted Citroën ë-C4, the No4 E-Tense is fitted with a 58.3kWh (net) battery that delivers up to 280 miles of range. 

Power is supplied by a single electric motor that sends 210hp and 253lb ft of torque to the front wheels.

A 0-62mph time has yet to be confirmed, but the e-408 can despatch it in 7.6sec.

Like its Peugeot sibling, the new DS can be rapid-charged at rates of up to 120kW, allowing for a 62-mile top-up in 11 minutes.

The No4 is again offered with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, this time with a larger and more efficient 14.6kWh battery. This provides as much as 50 miles of electric range, 30% more than the car it replaces.

The PHEV combines a 178bhp turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine with a gearbox-integrated motor for 222bhp and 266lb ft.

The 143bhp mild-hybrid petrol engine is also still offered.

DS has transformed the design of the new No4, bringing it inline with the stylings of the new No8. This is focused on the nose, which now features a new wider and redesigned grille, as well as the same V-shaped light signature as the SUV.

The bonnet has also been extended by 12mm. At the rear, new LED lights feature.

In keeping with its push to remain a premium option, 19in alloys are fitted as standard, with 20s offered at a cost.

Inside, the cabin has been subtly revised, with the main change the fitment of a new 10.25in instrument cluster.

The No4 will go on sale later this summer. Pricing has yet to be confirmed, but it will likely raise on today’s £33,235 starting price.