They are making luxury vehicles, and want high volume sales. They are simply trading on the name.
I have a difficult time seeing much core difference between the LR4 and Defender.
That storage box blocking the rear window, the styling... gives the feeling of designers who have never offroaded, just doing a styling exercise.
It looks okay to me, a smaller LR4 with updated styling.
I look at the design process of the Ineos Grenadier and am genuinely excited and impressed by it.
That is a genuine Defender successor. The type of vehicle LR has completely abandoned.
The same goes for the Bronco. The focus and design are authentic and focused for the offroad.
Both are really exciting and feel like next level offroad products, advancing the production offroad suv.
Defender is really designed for the "softroading" crowd. 99% urban use.
Nothing wrong with that, it's a business decision.
The marketing of the Defender name, to create authenticity, is the biggest hurdle.
But then again, the target buyers won't care.