Next Land Rover Defender design finalised – report

According to Autocar, the British manufacturer says the new Defender will look nothing like the DC100 concepts (above) it unleashed three years ago to start the conversation about the 21^st century version of its iconic off-roader.

The report claims the DC100 concepts are now seen as “a little too generic” within the company. The production version is understood to retain their simplicity while exuding a more adventurous spirit.

Jaguar Land Rover global operations director Phil Popham told CarAdvice in April the brand would reveal its plans for the new Defender before production of the current, 66-year-old model (below) finally comes to a close at the end of 2015.

Popham confirmed that as with the Discovery range, the new-generation Defender would spawn a “family of vehicles”, and suggested a ute variant was likely to continue in the new line-up alongside a more conventional SUV and potentially other body styles.

In February, Land Rover design director Gerry McGovern said the company needed to broaden the appeal of the new model and was working on making it “more desirable to look at”.

“The traditionalists might not like it but they’ll have to live with it,” McGovern told the Shropshire Star. “It will still be as capable as before and there will be references to the old model – it might even have a spare wheel on the back.

“What we really need to do is make the Defender more relevant to the modern world, lighter, more aerodynamic, and more cost effective.”

Expect more news on the next-generation Land Rover Defender in 2015.