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Land Rover Defender’s future not looking good: report

The humble and robust Land Rover Defender may soon be no more, as Land Rover decides on what to do with the future of the model. The Indian-owned manufacturer is struggling with the concept of a new-generation version, as there are fears that it would not be as good as the previous versions.


The first Land Rover Defender was produced as the Land Rover Series back in 1948. It was a rugged utility vehicle used in mass numbers in the military. Land Rover slowly turned it into a more civilised off-roader, calling it the Land Rover 90 and the 110 later in life. The Land Rover Defender kicked off in 1983.

Land Rover UK’s managing director Colin Green recently revealed some of the issues Land Rover was facing in coming up with a plan for the future of the model. Green said in an interview with Auto Express in the UK that a new model would need to be better than the last:

"If we get it wrong we are messing up one of the industry’s biggest icons, and in that sense it’s a tremendous responsibility."

The first option, apparently, is to simply fit a range of Euro 6-compliant diesel engines to the current platform and continue selling it pretty much as is. But even though this will keep the farmers and rescue fleets happy, Mr Green said that this may not help in attracting new buyers.

The second option is to develop a new model on the same platform as the current Range Rover Sport and Land Rover Discovery, although, this option is said to be relatively expensive. If this were the case, the Defender price at the showroom would also be affected.

The third option is one that will not go down well with the fans, and that is to end the Defender model altogether. Mr Green said,

"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."

Out of the three proposals, which road would you like Land Rover to take? Are you a die-hard Defender fan? Or perhaps you'd rather more technology poured into the company's other models? Let us know in the comments section below.

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