The Discovery was introduced into the United Kingdom in 1989. The company code-named the vehicle "Project Jay". The new model was based on the chassis anddrivetrainof the more upmarket Range Rover, but with a lower price aimed at a larger market segment and intended to compete with Japanese offerings. This was the only Discovery generation withfour-cylinderengines.
The Discovery was initially available in a three door version. The five door became available the following year. Both were fitted with five seats, and an option was made available to have two further seats fitted in the "boot" area at the back of the car. Land Rover employed an external consultancy, Conran Design Group in London, to design the interior. The brief was to ignore current car interior design and position the vehicle as a’lifestyle accessory’. The interior incorporated a number of original features, although some ideas shown on the original interior mock-ups constructed inside a Range Rover bodyshell at Conran’s workshops were left on the shelf, such as a custom sunglasses holder built into the centre of the steering wheel. The design was unveiled to critical acclaim, and won a British Design Award in 1989. The features that were retained included the majority of the interior being constructed from’Sonar Blue’ plastic(with blue cloth trim), map/magazine holding slots above the windscreen, hand-holds for rear passengers being incorporated into the head restraints of the front seats, remote radio controls on the instrument cluster, twin removable sunroof panels(including a special zip-up storage bag behind the rear seats) and the inclusion of a Land Rover-branded cloth fabric holdall in the front centre console for oddments storage that could be removed from the vehicle and worn as a’handbag’ using a supplied shoulder strap(relatively few of these bags have survived, making them collectible items). Despite such features the interior’s basic structure was the same as the Range Rover and virtually all the switchgear and instruments came from otherRover Groupcars such as theMaestroandMontego.