It seems the planned replacement for the Land Rover defender – due in 2015 – has been delayed as Land Rover redesign the Defender and build it on an aluminium platform.
Autocar are reporting that John Edwards – Land Rover’s Global Brand Director – has said the new Defender will not be going in to production in 2015 as planned, although Land Rover are planning to scrap the current Defender then as it will no longer meet emissions regulations. Which seems a bit odd.
It’s not that it’s going to take longer to get the new Defender to market than first planned that’s a bit odd – with plans to give it aluminium underpinnings and a redesign that’s not a huge surprise – but that the current Landie is going to end production.
We understand Euro6 regulations will make it tough for the Defender to comply after 2015, but we had expected Land Rover to continue bolting the Defender together for emerging markets in India or China for a few more years after that – perhaps until 2020 – but it seems that’s no longer part of the thinking. In fact, it seems the new engine plant JLR planned in India has also been put on ice.
So it now looks like the next Defender will be more upmarket than originally planned – complete with aluminium underpinnings thanks to cost-effective aluminium sourcing from JLR’s planned aluminium plant is Saudi Arabia – and will probably be a rougher, tougher version of the Land Rover Discovery 5, or whatever that gets called.
Unless Land Rover change their minds again.
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