Hooniverse Asks: Will the Land Rover Defender succeed here?

Jeff Glucker

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Comments

I’ve finally got some seat time in the new Land Rover Defender. This is a vehicle that I’ve been incredibly eager to drive. My window with it has been short, but I’ve enjoyed my time with it regardless. It’s wonderfully styled. The Defender drives well. And the interior is well laid out and comfortable. But I find myself wondering if this is a vehicle viewed here in positive favor primarily by the enthusiast set.

I want one…

I myself would love to someday own an older Defender 130. That is a vehicle on my Must Own list, in fact. But there’s an air of forbidden fruit applied to it, which affects my desire to own one. Still, this new one is a great updated take on the iconic classic. The lines are familiar yet still new. And now there’s actual power to be found under the hood. The version I drove has the supercharged 3.0-liter inline-six under the hood and it makes nearly 400 horsepower and greater than 400 lb-ft of torque. It moves quite well on the road, and in the dirt, it’s as good as you’d hope it would be.

And then I get to the price. As-tested this one is $72k. This is still a Land Rover. But will people pay that much for a vehicle without past success here in the States? I think they should considering that folks are willing to drop $60k and up on Wranglers and Gladiators, and they will likely have no problem doing as much on the new Bronco. And you don’t need to spend $70+ on the Defender. The starting price is around $50 for the 110 and just under $50 for the 2021 Defender 90.

Yet I still don’t know just how well this thing is going to do here. COVID absolutely killed the launch timing of the Defender. But is that the sole reason I’m not seeing these on the road yet? I just don’t know. What I do know is that I hope to start seeing more of them roaming around. Because the new Defender is good.

What do you think?

About

Jeff Glucker

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

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15 responses to “Hooniverse Asks: Will the Land Rover Defender succeed here?”

  1. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I don’t want to call it a future success, but I would bet on about 5000 units per year (given that the Disco approaches 10k per year typically). I’ve already started to see a handful around Toronto, but we also have enough older Defenders running around, typically driven by 40-something professionals who look like they work in, like, tech or advertising, but the sort of companies that work out of reclaimed banks and warehouses and whatever. It’ll be a hard (rational) sell over the Wrangler/Bronco (to say nothing of an F150 or something), but there should be enough people who just want something a little different.

    Reply
    1. outback_ute Avatar
      outback_ute

      I bet a lot of Discovery sales move over to the Defender

      Reply
      1. Maymar Avatar
        Maymar

        I could see it siphoning some off, but with the Discovery looking closer to a 3-row Range Rover Sport (which has plenty of cachet with a certain crowd), and pricing being about identical (at least from my rudimentary search of Canadian pricing), I don’t think it’ll be enough to concern JLR.

        Reply
      2. Rover 1 Avatar
        Rover 1

        The new Defender is the best Discovery ever, and the current Discovery isn’t any more.

        Reply
  2. Kamil K Avatar
    Kamil K

    I question this, too. Without a removable roof, this automatically competes with many other large SUVs with the same sticker price, including JLR’s own Disco. Nothing really sets it apart, wheres the Wrangler, Gladiator, and Bronco are different than others. Opportunity missed, IMO.

    Reply
  3. Maymar Avatar
    Maymar

    I don’t want to call it a future success, but I would bet on about 5000 units per year (given that the Disco approaches 10k per year typically). I’ve already started to see a handful around Toronto, but we also have enough older Defenders running around, typically driven by 40-something professionals who look like they work in, like, tech or advertising, but the sort of companies that work out of reclaimed banks and warehouses and whatever. It’ll be a hard (rational) sell over the Wrangler/Bronco (to say nothing of an F150 or something), but there should be enough people who just want something a little different.

    Reply
  4. Kamil K Avatar
    Kamil K

    I question this, too. Without a removable roof, this automatically competes with many other large SUVs with the same sticker price, including JLR’s own Disco. Nothing really sets it apart, wheres the Wrangler, Gladiator, and Bronco are different than others. Opportunity missed, IMO.

    Reply
  5. Zentropy Avatar
    Zentropy

    It’ll succeed in a niche market that doesn’t use even a fraction of its capabilities. People won’t buy this truck for what it can do, only for what it represents.

    Personally, I think the design is bland and sterile, and completely devoid of personality. And this is from a guy wearing a Volvo 240 t-shirt. I like that the Defender still exists and continues to be a mechanical mountain goat, but it’s gone too high tech on the inside and too dull on the outside for my liking. I had high hopes when they announced its continuation, but have no interest in it whatsoever now that I’ve seen it in the flesh.

    Reply
  6. Sjalabais Avatar
    Sjalabais

    The starting price is around $50 for the 110 and just under $50 for the 2021 Defender 90.

    50$ is about 1/6th of the scrapping bonus here. I see a viable business.

    Reply
    1. 0A5599 Avatar
      0A5599

      That’s the starting price, designed to bait you, but they’ll curiously be “sold out” if anyone tries to buy one, and you’ll have to go with what’s in stock for 1000.ties the “starting price”.

      I have a friend who used to sell cars. The dealership would advertise a stripped down version at below cost, and the salespeople would have to switch the customer to a more profitable trim level or better car. Legally, if they advertised the car, it had to be available for sale at the time the ad was placed. The dealerships ordered one (and only one) stripper car, because they had no intention of having anyone buy it, and there was no point in having a lot of inventory on something they were trying NOT to sell. Occasionally, however, a customer would insist on buying the cheap car, which meant they would have to change the next day’s ad. The salesperson who sold the ad car would be punished by the dealership–typically by sending them to pick up another ad car from a dealership a few hours away (they could not get any “ups” when they were off the lot, so wouldn’t have opportunities to earn commission that day)..

      Reply
      1. Sjalabais Avatar
        Sjalabais

        What an awful strategy. From my experience, I only know this from electronics stores and the like. Fortunately, the law is a bit stronger here. I am the worst customer insisting on buying what was advertised, at the advertised price. Sometimes, that means waiting two months for a new electric heater or whatever, but I don’t like to let the weasels get away with this cræp.

        Reply
    2. Vairship Avatar
      Vairship

      The price in Norway will equate to $4235468 though, after import fees and pollution and luxury tax. Unless you weld a 4 inch tall box on top, in which case it will cost $51 😉

      Reply
  7. neight428 Avatar
    neight428

    Tend to agree with Zentropy. There’s a market there for folks that want something off road capable with a little more “upmarket” cache. It might be worth scouring the used market in 5 years if the capabilities fit your needs presuming there aren’t multiple back-ordered critical components that need to be replaced to make them road worthy at that time. I’m guessing that in 2027, if we’re not all the way to Planet of the Apes or somesuch by then, that you can score one of these for significantly less than a 2021 Wrangler Rubicon.

    Reply
  8. crank_case Avatar
    crank_case

    It’s really hard to guess this one. Even sales in its home market aren’t guaranted. Granted, a lot of that might be a perfect storm of Covid and Brexit, but still.

    Reply
  9. SlowJoeCrow Avatar
    SlowJoeCrow

    I’m sure Landrover will sell enough to justify the model. I don’t know how many old Defender fans it will conquer since part of the cult appeal of the OG Defender was it’s archaic and modular design, with the looks and even parts interchange with a 1958 Series II. The new Defender is a basically a squared off Discovery full of electronics and lacking the sort of user modifiability that made the original so attractive.

    Personally the only Defender that really appeals to me is the two door hardtop on steel wheels likes the Wilkes Brothers tribute vehicle from the launch.

    Reply