Nene Overland posted this today, as a released image from Land Rover as a refinement on the DC100. They are certainly getting closer, but the top half is a little too FJC to me.
Newest Released Next Generation Defender Pic
- Thread starter Dendy Jarrett
- Start date
I Leak Oil
Expedition Leader
Better....
I don't understand? Mercedes Benz still makes the same G-Wagon its been making for 30 years and doesn't seem to be losing to many sales to modern unibodied SUVs. Why does the Defender have to go all modern and ruin a perfectly good truck that is already highly desirable? Couldn't they just engineer it to pass all the safety issues so they can sell them in the US? I'd be willing to bet they'd have a line out the door to buy a "new" Defender. Plus it'd be the only real competitor to the G-Wagon...
The defender has never been fitted with air bags, or any side protection. So to get them to pass any real tests would need a total redesign.
Add the fact in it's current guise it will never pass up coming EU tests and the huge labour cost to build one and your faced with either redesigning it, or killing it off totally.
Given how it's the halo model of LR, option 2 would never happen. But because of it being the halo model, getting the new design right is going to be a huge risk as you can't please everyone. So you need to take the majority and they will be trying to crack the US again with the new one and i would imagine the Jeep would be seen as it's main challenge.
Add the fact in it's current guise it will never pass up coming EU tests and the huge labour cost to build one and your faced with either redesigning it, or killing it off totally.
Given how it's the halo model of LR, option 2 would never happen. But because of it being the halo model, getting the new design right is going to be a huge risk as you can't please everyone. So you need to take the majority and they will be trying to crack the US again with the new one and i would imagine the Jeep would be seen as it's main challenge.
Steve UK
Adventurer
For the most part, online forum enthusiasts aren't LR's target market anymore so I doubt we will all get the solid axles, no airbags, etc. that we all still want. The US especially is not going to be one of the biggest defender markets that will "define" the new defender such as it does the Wrangler for Jeep. I actually like that design compared to what I was afraid we'd be looking at when I saw the first DC100 (other than the low profile tires) and 20"+ looking wheels.
wreckdiver1321
Overlander
Agreed. But definitely better than the DC100. But not quite there yet.
Everything below the body line that's just below the door handle is not too bad. Everything else, not so much.
jh.
ambitiose sed ineptum
Aren't there still militaries world wide that use these rigs? Wouldn't they still prefer the old fashioned solid axles?