I was with the marketing folks from Land Rover last week. When I see them again I will bring this up for sure and report back!

 

It was marketing.
The Freelander had a deservedly bad rep in the US (it was the best selling SUV in Europe for many years). Hence the name change for Freelander 2 in the US.

The Discovery had a bad rep in the US, hence the name change with the Discovery 3 came out (for NA only).

Land Rover was counting on Americans being too dumb to realize the marketing change and apparently they were right.