New Land Rover Defender Is “Not Far Away,” Says Design Boss

It’s hard waiting patiently for a new Land Rover Defender, especially after hearing that it’s coming to the U.S. Fortunately, Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern says the model is “not far away.”

At the Automotive News Europe Congress last week, McGovern talked about the much-hyped successor, which will bring back to life the original model that ended production in 2016 after a run of more than 60 years. The new version is expected to keep the same toughness as the original. “You’ll be able to kick the hell out of them and they’ll get up for more,” McGovern said.

While the new Defender’s appearance will retain an emotional connection to the previous generation, McGovern hinted the new version will be more modern, saying it’s meant to appeal to a new generation of buyers as well as current Defender owners.

“This was a vehicle that for a very long time was the emotional core of our brand. In order to move our brand forward we need to create desirable and relevant vehicles to appeal to a wider group of customers,” he noted.

McGovern’s comments support what we’ve already heard. A few years back, we learned that a new Defender will arrive in 2018 to celebrate the nameplate’s 70^th anniversary. Land Rover could produce as many as 30,000 copies of the go-anywhere SUV each year. And as we reported earlier, the new Defender, which is bound for the U.S., will be based on the same aluminum-intensive architecture as the Range Rover Sport and new Land Rover Discovery.

Pictured is the Land Rover Defender 90 Heritage Edition.

Source: Automotive News Europe (Subscription required)

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