Land Rover hopes to sell five times as many Defenders when the new model arrives.
The Land Rover Defender represents rugged, back-to-basic off-roading. This car can be traced back almost 100 years to the Second World War Willys Jeep. However, the new version will offer more.
The new Defender, which is highly anticipated, will not be a go-anywhere car on wheels. Instead, it will offer luxury and technology that will bring this iconic car into the 21st Century.
While purists might be upset by this idea, Land Rover is still a business that must shift units. The Range Rover and Range Rover Elvoque are popular, but the Defender failed to sell 20,000 units per year despite its legendary status. The new generation will bring it closer to the Land Rover range and increase sales to approximately 100,000 per year.
CarAdvice quoted Ralph Speth, Jaguar Land Rover CEO, as saying that technology is going to be a mandatory part of the new Defender. It is simply impossible to build this type of vehicle without it. It is impossible to achieve the required emissions and it is not possible to achieve the CO2 levels for vehicles of today.
The car’s aesthetics are likely to change despite the negative reception for the DC100 concept at the Frankfurt Motor Show 2011. This was supposed to be a preview of a future Defender family. The design will be affected by emissions regulations, not only under the hood. Aerodynamics are at a premium to improve fuel economy.
Speth answered CarAdvice when asked if Land Rover would follow Mercedes’ lead and modernize a classic design, just like the German marque did it with the new G Class_. He said that the new Defender would probably be a little bit different.
He said, “It’s an interesting approach to continue designing the same vehicle and move forward with new technology inside. But at the end it’s only halfway.” We can’t look back if we want to be relevant and use the most recent technology. This is why we must move forward.”