New Defender likely to arrive in USA in 2019

haven

Expedition Leader
http://www.autonews.com/article/20170814/OEM04/170819961/land-rover-product-offensive

Automotive News recently published an article reviewing Land Rover's new vehicle plans. It includes this note:

"[Defender] will include a family of vehicles to be sold in all global markets. It will come in several body styles and it will be instantly recognizable as a Defender, but without appearing retro, says Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern. Look for a two-door soft top and a four-door wagon powered by JLR's Ingenium family of gasoline and diesel engines."

Land Rover is building a new plant in Slovakia. It's likely that the new Defender will be built there. Let's hope that the new Defender for North America won't lose too much off-road capability compared to models for use by military customers and in developing countries.

 

Theoretician

Adventurer
http://www.thedrive.com/news/13554/next-gen-land-rover-defender-will-be-sold-in-u-s-report-says

I really hope that they don't neuter the thing, but I'm also really pessimistic. Same platform and engines as the range rover means IFS at least. Independent suspensions can be done well for offroading, plenty of examples in the desert racing series around the world of that, but staying within the limitations of a range rover platform that behaves well at speed on pavement would seem to preclude that.
 

stevenmd

Expedition Leader
Ugh, the release date keeps getting pushed back. As long as it has the same or wee bit better out of the box performance of the LR4, I'll be happy. My only gripe is I hope they don't have too much plastic on it like the new Discovery 5.
 

99Discovery

Adventurer
Gerry McGovern has been quoted as saying he despises anything bolted to the front of his designs, ie: brush guards and stuff. He might be "the guy" for the evoque and the Range Rover line, but honestly, I think he's arguably the wrong guy for Discovery (the engineering is fine, design is horrible 22" wheels, no way for an aftermarket bumper, etc) and he is definitely the wrong guy for Defender.

I think we are in trouble.

And regulations haven't "killed the Defender". The latest rumors I've heard indicate that Fiat has not closed the door on a hard-top variant of the new JL Wrangler. That very much means an updated version of the well received Jeep Africa concept could hit the JL lineup a few years after release. If that vehicle is released alongside a Gerry McGovern Defender, my money is that most of us are going to move to Jeep...
 

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