Terran
Well-Known Member
The classic Land Rover Defender crossed a point where it just wasn’t worth it to JLR and Tata to try and maintain. It wasn’t a practical vehicle anymore it was a LR enthusiast vehicle.
for First world countries it would have required a major overhaul to meet emissions and safety standards. The Electrical was obsolete and body on frame is expensive particularly when you don’t have anything that shares the frame.
to Work customers there they had cheaper pickup trucks or vans.
To Luxury customers the G Wagon, Land Cruiser 200/300, Discovery and Range Rover.
To Third world countries the Land Cruiser 70 series does everything the Defender does but more reliably and cheaper.
For military purposes again the Land Cruiser. Even in the British Army the Discovery was taking some of its lighter utility missions. At the time with IEDs the Snatch Land Rover’s were brought in but they didn’t cover themselves in glory. The Electrical was again obsolete. Engine was antiquated, IEDs attacked the underbelly and they needed MRAPs.
Tata and JLR had a choice of 3 options. 1) try and overhaul the existing design but it probably would have cost as much as a complete redesign. 2) start over from scratch on a Body on Frame. Basically the Ineos Grenadier. Or 3) Start over with a Unibody, which is what they did.
The new Defender is built off the same family of platform as the Range Rover and Discovery models so from economical perspective for them it’s cheaper. It’s alot more versatile than people give it credit for. Well it’s more luxury than the classic, LR clearly tried to make it more adventure vehicle than the Range Rover Luxury or the Discovery family. They probably could have done the Grenadier route but that’s more focused on the enthusiasts and has stiff competition from G wagon.
for First world countries it would have required a major overhaul to meet emissions and safety standards. The Electrical was obsolete and body on frame is expensive particularly when you don’t have anything that shares the frame.
to Work customers there they had cheaper pickup trucks or vans.
To Luxury customers the G Wagon, Land Cruiser 200/300, Discovery and Range Rover.
To Third world countries the Land Cruiser 70 series does everything the Defender does but more reliably and cheaper.
For military purposes again the Land Cruiser. Even in the British Army the Discovery was taking some of its lighter utility missions. At the time with IEDs the Snatch Land Rover’s were brought in but they didn’t cover themselves in glory. The Electrical was again obsolete. Engine was antiquated, IEDs attacked the underbelly and they needed MRAPs.
Tata and JLR had a choice of 3 options. 1) try and overhaul the existing design but it probably would have cost as much as a complete redesign. 2) start over from scratch on a Body on Frame. Basically the Ineos Grenadier. Or 3) Start over with a Unibody, which is what they did.
The new Defender is built off the same family of platform as the Range Rover and Discovery models so from economical perspective for them it’s cheaper. It’s alot more versatile than people give it credit for. Well it’s more luxury than the classic, LR clearly tried to make it more adventure vehicle than the Range Rover Luxury or the Discovery family. They probably could have done the Grenadier route but that’s more focused on the enthusiasts and has stiff competition from G wagon.