Our old pal Jonny Lieberman posted camo-clad photos of a Land Rover Defender development car. It was likely trotting around the Gaydon roads as it’s being put through its paces before a final upcoming reveal. This is a big vehicle for Land Rover, as the Defender has been an iconic symbol of the brand for decades. While we’re fine with the stylistic direction applied to the Land Rover and warmed up to the looks of the Discovery, I’m not sure a “softer” Defender will work.
http://hooniverse.info/2017/10/12/the-latest-land-rover-discovery-summed-up-in-less-than-five-minutes/
In fact, I’m pretty sure of it.
Mercedes-Benz knew it couldn’t cut off the edges of its G-Class. The German automaker made it better, but it never lost sight of the original appeal of that particular Military-bred machine. The same should be true of the Defender, but now I fear that won’t be the case.
And that’s a damn shame.
By Jeff Glucker
Jeff Glucker is the co-founder and Executive Editor of Hooniverse.com. He’s often seen getting passed as he hustles a 1991 Mitsubishi Montero up the 405 Freeway. IG: @HooniverseJeff
William Byrd
Given how aggressive the cammo flares out at the C-Pillar, I’m cautiously optimistic that this bares nearly no resemblance to the production model, and it’s largely fake. I know we’re not getting away from some aero trimming, but that’s too obscured to make a fair judgement just yet.
Although, realistically, if you can still get it with rubber floors and not an excess of electronics (in other words, if it remains a utilitarian fleet-grad vehicle), I’m willing to overlook some disappointing styling.
That’s exactly what I’m hoping for as well
The entire hood and the doors down to rub strip level (where they would go if they still existed) are heavily padded.
From this I’m tipping it looks like a Discovery with bigger wheel arch flares, basically another matryoshka doll generic Land Rover.
I’m not confident of a work spec version, let alone live axle/s or a pickup. Probably not even a swb, which was the very first Land Rover that this thing is theoretically continuing…
I guess, is it plausible that a production-friendly interpretation of this concept is hiding under the cammo? I think so, and if so, well, it could be worse (but again, the spec sheet will be the real definer of worse, and you’re probably not wrong about them dropping the live axles).
https://autoweek.com/sites/default/files/styles/gen-932-524/public/defender_2.jpg?itok=KbHk1Jgo
Yes I’m thinking a cross between that and the Discovery
This piece of sh*t is called “Jeep Renegade”…
I can expect everything, even worse. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c4c330caa52805488a27c14dd728eaa2f32cbb130d540bccd825a5c69286e220.jpg
Oh no. Let’s hope not. Reminds me of a stilted second-gen Scion xB.
https://hips.hearstapps.com/amv-prod-cad-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/images/media/267374/2008-scion-xb-photo-254045-s-original.jpg
The Land Rover looks like an over-sized verssion of my Kia Soul!
Thought the same thing.
The good news is that Fiat is making a new version of the Defender.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/f103acdb3c3c7addc6d338d5a821031fc541f7738f0f795d5b47913bebd5e3ee.png
The bad news is that Fiat is making it.
Indeed.
Why couldn’t they just restyle the original defender, a little better aero updates, use aluminum frame, composite body, 4 and 6 cylinder turbo engines and minimal electronic luxuries. Why make yet another range rover LR4 blah blah blah? Those things are not off road worthy utilitarian rigs.
Possibly too much ‘from scratch’ and the Jeep and Landcruiser 70 series between them have the market fairly well catered for. They do leave a fair opportunity for a proper new Defender, but the business case would by no means be a no-brainer IMO.