New Land Rover Defender will be brand's most high-tech car yet

The new Defender, Land Rover’s forthcoming replacement for the much-lamented 67-year-old icon that finally went out of production late last year, will make use of technology even more modern than that adopted by the recently launched, all-new Discovery when it finally hits the market at the beginning of 2019.

Land Rover, which over the past 20 years has cleverly adapted conventional antilock braking and traction control systems to pioneer Hill Descent Control and Terrain Response for its strong-selling 4x4 models, is determined to make the new Defender the world’s most capable off-road vehicle. It is also understood to have further electronic enhancements for the chassis systems under final development in time for Defender production to begin.

The forthcoming off-roader, whose major engineering is complete, is currently being tested in prototype form at secret locations around the world. Jaguar Land Rover CEO Ralf Speth told  our sister publication Autocar UK at the recent Paris show that he had been testing Defender mules, which were very promising, and that the styling, also complete barring a few details, looked “fantastic”.

Compared with other recent models, Land Rover has appeared to struggle with the business case for the new Defender. This is probably why the project has been delayed, why production of the outgoing model was extended at least twice, and why there will be a three-year gap between the old car’s demise and the launch of its replacement.

Some years ago Land Rover bosses cited 2015 as the ideal launch date for a new Defender, which begins the third part of the firm’s ‘three-pillar’ model strategy. Bosses have always said the company’s future will depend on three families, or pillars, namely Defender, Discovery and Range Rover.

The nub of the delay, according to industry watchers, is concern that sales of the old Defender have rarely reached 20,000 per year in recent years, well short of a modern economic level for profitable production. The idea of killing the Defender plan altogether has also been discussed at times but dismissed.

Under the circumstances, the company is understandably reluctant to discuss production levels of the new Defender, but it’s clear that 50,000-plus sales a year will be needed in order to make the next generation model successful. This accounts for clear signs by Land Rover’s designers of throttling back on design ‘toughness’ for the latest Discovery, in turn leaving plenty of space in the line-up for a new family of Defenders.

Crucially, Speth confirmed in Paris that the new Defender would be based on the aluminium architecture of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Discovery, meaning it can share the all-aluminium body shop and final assembly procedures of these models. However, Speth also confirmed that the Defender’s structure would need “a lot of different elements” to deliver the extremes of strength and durability customers will expect of Land Rover’s most capable off-roader.

“It was one of the saddest moments of my career to end production of the old Defender,” Speth said. “So we are working very hard to give it an authentic successor.”

However, despite the authenticity aims, it is clear Land Rover intends to expand the Defender’s market appeal by producing both civilised and hardcore versions of its new model in order for it to be sold as a do-it-all vehicle in the way the old Defender never was.

Despite the riddle of the business case, Land Rover bosses know they need the Defender and say it will develop into a family of models. The Defender is certain to share the two wheelbases of the Range Rover -- 2922mm and 3120mm in standard and long wheelbase guises, respectively -- but its overhangs are likely to be shorter, especially at the rear, and its ground clearance and arrival, departure and break-over angles will give it greater off-road agility than any other Land Rover.