New Land Rover Defender To Be Built In India: Report

The all-new replacement for the legendary Land Rover Defender is still a few years away, but the rumour mill is in full swing regarding its expected place of manufacture.

According to a report in Autocar, Tata Motors (Land Rover’s current custodian) is planning to build at least some of the new Defenders in Pune, India.

Defenders for the European market may be shipped to the UK for final assembly, while those destined for the Asian region would be shipped straight out of the Pune facility.

Land Rover is clearly targeting a broader buyer demographic with the new Defender, and is aiming to keep prices down as it targets the Chinese market and the Asia-Pacific region in general.

Pune is no stranger to Land Rover manufacturing, with Asian market Freelanders being assembled there now.

There is also no word on where Australian-market Defenders will be built, or indeed if there will be other places of manufacture outside of India and the UK.

It would be reasonable to assume that the new Defender will be better made than the current model (wherever it is built), which is still largely built by hand, and rather unsteady ones at that.

But the purists will still miss the wavy panels, leaking bulkheads and less than enthusiastic air-conditioning of what is a much loved modern day relic.