The rebirth of an icon doesn’t happen overnight.
British SUV marque Land Rover are very excited about the reintroduction of their iconic Defender and, like its many fans around the world, want it to happen as soon as humanly possible. However, such an event demands absolute perfection in terms of both the product and its presentation and as such, they need a little more time than previously thought.
An earlier report we carried suggested that the new Defender could be here as soon as Christmas, as icing on the cake to celebrate 70-years since the original Land Rover Series I (the precursor to the Defender) first debuted. That’s since been proven to be untrue, thanks to a new teaser tweeted by the company’s US office, captioned ‘Do not unwrap until 2019.’
Got it, Land Rover.
Speaking to UK publication Autocar, Land Rover’s marketing boss had much to say about why the new Defender will only be hitting the roads some 4-years after the last model rolled off the production line (and why that might be a good thing).
“If we had wanted to recreate the existing car then we could have moved quicker, but it is our view that for an icon to remain an icon it cannot only look backwards, but must move forwards too. The new Defender will move the game on again, and having the benefit for some perspective in order to achieve that should be to our advantage. I can promise you that the new Defender will do all that our customers expect of it, without being a copycat of what has gone before. It is a car for the modern world.” – Felix Bräutingam, Chief Commercial Officer, Jaguar Land Rover
The new Defender is set to return not as a solo act, but as an entire lineup within itself. The 90 & 110 wheelbases (forming the 3- and 5-door body styles) have been confirmed already, while a longer-still 130 wheelbase (which could serve a double cab ute body) is rumoured. The 90 & 110 prototypes have been snapped testing on public roads near the Land Rover factory in Gaydon, some of which sport a rear-mounted spare wheel, a clear nod to the original.
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