All-new Land Rover Defender will 'Appeal to a new generation' says Land Rover boss

The original Land Rover Defender/Series (pictured) will be replaced by a Defender which appeals to a new generation

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Design boss, is back talking about the all-new Land Rover Defender, again and says it will ‘Appeal to a new generation’.

The road to an all-new Land Rover Defender is proving to be a long one, and we’ve heard almost nothing from JLR on the subject for quite a while.

In fact it’s six years since we got the new Land Rover Defender Concepts as Land Rover tried to gauge whether they were heading in the right direction, but since then all we’ve really had to work with is a few comments, a number of rumours and a few interesting conversations.

But it does look as if Land Rover is planning to reveal the new Defender in 2018, and the fact Gerry McGovern, Land Rover’s Design Director, has been talking about the new Defender at the Automotive News Europe Congress, perhaps means things are now moving forward.

McGovern didn’t confirm when the new Defender will arrive – although he did say it’s “not far away” – but he did say anticipation is incredible at Land Rover and that the new Defender will appeal to ‘a new generation’ of buyers. Which we hope means it will also appeal to traditional Defender buyers too.

Gerry McGovern wasn’t quite as blunt with his revelations this time as he was four years ago when he told Australian journalists that the new Defender will be “…the bollocks, the absolute dog’s bollocks”. But we’re sure he’s still as enthused.

Of course, the new Defender is a huge deal for Land Rover as it’s the bedrock of the marque, and a huge chunk of the responsibility for delivering the replacement of an icon – and defining the brand – lies with McGovern.

What we do know of the new Land Rover Defender is that it won’t look like the Concepts from the start of the decade, but it will carry design links to the original Defender and be a tough and rugged – for adventures of all kinds – when it does arrive.

But it will have to appeal to adventurous families as well as be a workhorse for those who need it, and the plushness of the new Discovery has meant a bit more wriggle room for the Defender to offer Land Rover’s proper ‘butch’ option in the Defender.

Based on the aluminium platform used by the Range Rover, Sport and Discovery, the new Defender will bristle with technology, have luxury and utilitarian options, two wheelbase options and both petrol and diesel engine options. It will also come with an even more impressive Terrain response than the current version.

Assuming the new Defender does arrive in 2018 – and it’s been promised for so long we can’t be certain – we can’t see Land Rover building it in the UK, but they’re going to have to find someone – perhaps Magna Steyr – to deliver a target of at least 50,000 a year to make it viable, and probably twice that to be successful.