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In the beginning: The Land Rover Discovery was launched in Ireland in early 1990 to great acclaim, and soon became popular amongst those who could afford it. High Import Duty rates in Ireland classed it as a luxury vehicle, costing nearly twice as much as it did in neighbouring Northern Ireland and the UK.
At the same time most other 4WD vehicles were available in commercial versions, these attracted a different class of tax and were more affordable. So in mid 1991 a Dublin Land Rover dealer designed and produced a Commercial variant of the Tdi 3 door Discovery. This involved removing the rear seat, filling in all rear side glass, and levelling off the now larger loadspace with a carpet covering. All blanked-off windows were covered in matching interior trim.
This new version quickly became the best selling version of the entire
Discovery range, and was also the very first example of a Discovery Van
anywhere in the world.
In 1993, Vehicle Import Duty was replaced by Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), which meant changes had to be made to the Discovery Commercial in order to exempt it altogether from VRT. To acheive this Land Rover Ireland themselves took on the job of converting three door Tdi verhicles to van specification, the results were similar to the previous model from the exterior point of view but very different inside. VRT rules dictated that only commercial vehicles that had a minimum of 2 metre loadspace would be exempt altogether from this new tax. The 1993 Discovery Commercial therefore had adjustments made to the central console reducing it in size by chopping off the rear end of it behind the gear lever. Electric window switches were repositioned into the rest of the centre console, either side of the transfer gear lever. The rear seat footwell was also covered over to create the extra length.
The result was a high specification 4X4 that quickly proved popular with consumers, being some £6,000 cheaper than the equivalent 3dr passenger model. It's standard price was £18,600 including VAT, making it the cheapest priced vehicle in it's class at that time.
Based on the revised Romulus platform, the basic details were the
same as the previous models except for the deletion of the electric
pack. The vehicle gained in popularity with the added problems of demand far
exceeding supplies, an average waiting time of three months for all examples
was the norm.
VRT changes allowed the Discovery Commercial to retain its Alpine windows, since this date all subsequent models have had Alpine windows fitted as standard.
The electric pack was fitted as standard from this date onwards, as per passenger models. The cubby box, part of the central console which had been removed up until this point, was retained in part, allowing the window switches to remain in their normal place. Alloy wheels ("Freestyle") were also fitted as standard. The radio ariel, which was to be found in the rear quarter window glass on passenger versions was retro-fitted onto it's original place in the front wing (from this point forward).
As per 3dr passenger models, front headlamp washers were deleted. "Castor" alloy wheels were fitted as standard.
Final stocks of the 300 Tdi Discovery Commercial were sold through dealers
nationwide. A stockpile of some 100 vehicles had been ordered in late 1998
by the distributors to cover for the lack of a van version of the new Td5
models, which had also arrived at that time.
Land Rover Ireland announced a new Commercial version of the latest Td5 powered 5 door Discovery in mid March 1999. Available based on either the 'S' or 'GS' passenger models, this time around the glass in the rear side doors and rear quarter was removed and the usual internal adjustments included the full trimiing of the removed window spaces and a level 2 metre floor. But because of the extra length of the Td5 Discovery there was no need to chop about with the centre console, so the cab area of the latest Commercial is very much the same as the passenger version.
Retailing at £25,750 for the 'S' and
£27,250 for the 'GS' (around
£10,000 cheaper than equivalent passenger models(!)), the latest
models are selling like hot cakes all around Ireland.
Footnote: A different version of the Discovery Commercial was marketed in the UK by Land Rover Special Vehicles between 1993 and 1998. In addition France had a version which retained all glass, whilst Holland had a version with a high roofline specially made to suit local tax regulations.
Tony Luckwill 2000. E&OE. Photos Tony Luckwill, Rover Ireland, and Nick Dimbleby. Thanks to all.
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