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What to do with the Land Rover Defender? The company is considering how to shape a successor to the hallowed model, but new reports say the company could simply elect for the nuclear option: kill it once and for all.
As we’ve previously reported, the Defender, largely unchanged since 1983 and similar to Land Rover models dating back nearly fifty years, needs to be overhauled by 2016 or else it no longer can be sold in Europe. As emissions, fuel economy, and crash regulations continue to grow increasingly stringent, it’s growing increasingly difficult for the current design increasingly difficult for the aging truck to pass muster and be sold as a consumer vehicle. In fact, the model was dropped from Land Rover’s U.S. lineup after 1997 for the sheer fact it didn’t sport airbags.
Last we heard, Land Rover was considering one of two options: either update the current Defender’s architecture with modern safety and emissions equipment, or crafting a new platform that shares key components with the likes of the LR2 and other Jaguar/Land Rover offerings. Now there’s another course of action: Colin Green, the managing director of Land Rover’s U.K. operations, tells AutoExpress there’s a chance the model could be killed altogether.
“Another option…is that we abandon that section of the market,” he said in a recent interview. “It’s our least preferred choice, because we have serviced that customer base for a long time, but there’s no point in servicing the customer and not the business. We have to make money and all three options are on the table.”
Brand purists and off-road freaks are likely reaching for their blood pressure medication as we speak, but we understand where Green’s coming from. The Defender is an institutional icon for the brand, one that abides to the original Land Rover principles and design more than any other Land Rover product. But does it fit with Land Rover’s modern personality, which is hinged on packaging advanced design, premium amenities, and stout off-road chops?
Reinventing the Defender much like filming a re-make of a vintage cult classic film. You can craft it so it appeals to a wider section of today’s customer base, but the niche group of individuals who adored the original will never stop voicing outrage. Do it wrong, and both a prestigious nameplate and a brand’s image could be sullied in a heartbeat. Green seems to understand this, telling AutoExpress “If we get this wrong, we’re messing up one of the industry’s biggest icons. In that sense, it’s a tremendous responsibility.”
Would we like to see the Defender die? Of course not — but we wouldn’t like to see the nameplate and history watered down, either. What should Land Rover do? Should it continue to crank out a rugged, Spartan off-roader in keeping with the Defender principles? Should it attempt to inject some revolution in a product that’s long been the poster child of evolution? Or should the company not even bother, and update the vehicle for the few commercial clients, military buyers, and off-road enthusiasts who truly want such a beast? Send your thoughts in the comments section below.
Source: AutoExpress
For years I’ve heard they can’t update it, but Jeep updated the Wrangler. You can even get the Wrangler in a 4 door. If they kill the Defender, they will rip the heart out of the company. There’s a white 95 Defender 90 on the showroom floor of my local dealer, it sold in a day for $39,500. When I talked to the salesman, he said looks like we sold it too cheap. Look at the prices of Defenders at Copley Motors, and the restorations coming out of East Coast Rover. $100,000+ for a 1993 Defender 110, If there’s demand at those prices, there’s a market out there.
I own two defenders and at least once a month someone asks how they can get one i still cant understand how landrover doesnt get it Nearly bankrupt chrysler sells 4 door jeeps like hot cakes because they dont have any competition. a defender is such a cooler utilitarian vehicle. Wise up tata
Kill the Defender? Blasphemy!
But then again, can they continue to incrementally nurse a design along in the way they have since the Series III days? If they want to keep it viable in the long term, a new platform is what is really needed. Maintain the simplicity of the design, ruggedness, performance and modularity. But it simply must be redesigned in order to improve production costs. You just can’t compete by offering a mostly hand assembled vehicle in the modern SUV market, even if you are filling a niche that gives you so little real competition.
They also need to improve their production methods when working with aluminum.
How about lobbying to change the nanny-state excessive safety regulations? Or at least carve out an exception for small utility vehicles, like there are for larger lorries and delivery trucks?
I’d also like to see them trim down the Defender for the US market, and lower the price – target farmers, not rap stars.
I agree that it would be very sad if they drop the Defender. To me the Defender is what a Land Rover should be. Hopefully they can keep the body close to the same and just add some safety features.
It will be a sad, sad day if they make the decision the axe the Defender. That vehicle is the definition of off road and stands for a heritage that no other car company has. It’s too bad.