2010 was believed to be the final year of production for the Land Rover Defender, but now it’s all “up in the air”, whilst Land Rover bosses weigh up all options. Land Rover will soon be unable to produce the current Defender because of tougher and tougher EU regulations and with the present Defender model it simply will not be able to meet these new standards.
But Land Rover bosses are considering whether a replacement “New Defender” is something which the company wants to sell in the current market place.
As Land Rover evolves into a manufacturer of fashionable lifestyle cars, as opposed to a maker of practical work tools, it seems the future of its sturdy Defender could be in jeopardy.
It is possible that Land Rover wants to focus and concentrate on more upmarket vehicles where they can earn bigger profits than they do from the Defender.
Further to this is the announcement that Land Rover has lost it’s contract to supply the Land Rover Snatch to the British Ministry of Defence in favour of the stronger Ocelot. This leaves the Defender very much in limbo.
There is ever increasing competition from Asia and other parts of the world, where similar vehicles are made. These 4x4 offer better levels of comfort and handling and are sold at a lower price. If there is no future market and no money to be made out of a new Defender why build it?
It is unlikely that a new Defender based on a Tata model will emerge as this will not be readily accepted by the Defender’s core market. They will want a British “through and through” product.
Todaythe new generation Defender, whilst still looking externally more or less as it did 27 years ago, sports a state of the art common rail 2.4 litre turbo diesel engine derived from the Ford Transit, coupled to a spritely new 6 speed transmission. This could be the last in the line for the Defender.
The information on this website is derived from my own knowledge base and experiences as encountered over several years of dealing in Land Rovers. If there are any mistakes or errors, I apologise. I will add more information as and when I get time.
