defender replacement: the benchmark (IMHO)

Not keen on it either to be honest. Looks like a Hyundai Getz that had some sort of radioactive accident...

Just in reply to JDNSW regarding how many 90's are sold. Australia is the only country in the world where they don't outsell 110's and 130's.

British farmers love them in the pickup version (honestly can't tell you why as the loadbox is the size of a wheel barrow!), the extreme crowd doing Trialling loves them for obvious reasons and they are loved in cities around the world because you can drive a Defender that has a smaller footprint than a Ford Focus.

IMO a short wheelbase creature like that will sell if they fix the looks. Landrover like all car companies is only interrested in sales and they'll build what sells, even at the expense of their loyal Defender customer base.

This is what the new defender will look like .

BBC News - Land Rover confirms new version of its Defender model

Nice eh !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Loubrey

Just in reply to JDNSW regarding how many 90's are sold. Australia is the only country in the world where they don't outsell 110's and 130's.
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IMO a short wheelbase creature like that will sell if they fix the looks. Landrover like all car companies is only interrested in sales and they'll build what sells, even at the expense of their loyal Defender customer base.

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You might be right - but it is not just Landrover - all manufacturers of four wheel drives in Australia struggle to sell short wheelbase variants.

Australian farmers will rarely buy something that does not have a tray you can put a couple of pallet loads of chemicals or similar on with a forklift. The major part of the use they used to make of swb four wheel drives, as a farm runabout, is now done by four wheel motorbikes.

By the way, I agree that they need the swb for the world market, although not for Australia, where lwb is needed - and almost certainly for the USA market, although they could do well with both there.

John

Having had all night to stare at it.:eek: You would have wonder how a long-wheel base and pick up version would look. Accepted that it's only a concept an you only have to look at the differences between the Range Stormer and the eventual Range Rover Sport not to panic too much.

I managed to attend a talk at Gaydon, Warwickshire a couple years ago when they started thinking of the Defender replacement. Their brief was clear to have a "modular" concept so that, like a current Defender everything up to the back of the driver seat remains the same on all models and the different configurations then start from there. Looking at those two carefully posed picktures, there appears to be 2 seams or joints front and aft of the D-pillar that might allow for different configurations?