Thread: Why have Land Rover only made minor changes to the DEFENDER over the years??

Originally Posted by weeds

The biggest change is happening in 2015................

So what is exactly supposed to happen in 2015?

The basis of what may have been the New defender is driving around our roads for the last 2 year's. 129 in wheelbase, td5 puma donk made in UK and soon to be sold in wagon form. 2 different bodies and suspension settings( One is pretty ugly without a bullbar) called ranger/BT50.
As to the capacity argument? Proof please? Currently people claim 20k is the limit but in 1997 they made 37,000!
I wonder if they would have met or exceeded that figure if the defender for local ROW Export got the 3.2 td5 and the matching auto As an option?

Originally Posted by stealth

So what is exactly supposed to happen in 2015?

The ONLY thing that anyone knows, FOR CERTAIN, is that JLR have stated OFFICIALLY that the last Defender will roll down the Solihull production line on 20th December 2015. That is JLR's official position.
As far as what else will happen?....IMHO, not very much, JLR have also made various vague statements that there will not be an immediate replacement, & when that replacement comes, it will have to be more commercially viable than the current Defender, which sells around 16000 units a year.
IMHO, no-one outside of JLR has any idea what form the replacement will take.
Cheers, Pickles.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

IMHO, no-one outside of JLR has any idea what form the replacement will take.
Cheers, Pickles.

I'd wager no one in JLR has any idea what form the replacement will take.

Originally Posted by ugu80

I'd wager no one in JLR has any idea what form the replacement will take.

Ha ha ha,..Well you could very well be right!!...because they sure ain't saying much.
I think that part of the reason is that their focus on Defender is nowhere near what it was, as they have so many other, popular, big selling, profit generating vehicles in the range.
Cheers, Pickles.

Originally Posted by ugu80

I'd wager no one in JLR has any idea what form the replacement will take.

I'd wager that the new design already has prototypes mechanically working and in secret testing.
Quite possibly test mules disguised as current discoveries.
The lead-time for new vehicle design is phenomenal. Some companies work two models ahead.

What I find truely amazing is how secret they can keep everything. Not just JLR but every car company does an amazing job of keeping everything they need under wraps and only leaking exactly what they want to leak to keep the frenzy alive.

Originally Posted by Dougal

What I find truely amazing is how secret they can keep everything. Not just JLR but every car company does an amazing job of keeping everything they need under wraps and only leaking exactly what they want to leak to keep the frenzy alive.

I've wondered that as well, and the fact that it takes so many years to develop and build a vehicle, must surely be why there are such high costs associated with cars in general. I often wonder how much effort goes into trying to streamline the R&D and build process? Labour is surely the main cost in all that, so for every month they could get ahead, it would equal good savings.

Is it really that hard to make a car?

LR haven't changed for so long because they are stupid and stuck in the past.

I understand that people love defenders and I've had two myself. But when you look at some of the inherent weaknesses, they should have been solved before counties turned into defenders. Like room for a driver, lining up panels, reliability, water ingress, weak diffs and gearboxes on later models, lack of any safety (eg: airbags, crumple zones etc etc). People either love them or hate them and they are a purchase made with the heart, not the head. Of course all of this rant is in my humble opinion. Instead of a massive change in 2015, they should have evolved like other brands have throughout their history. Instead, they are stuck in the past and are reminiscent of an old world superpowers approach to building a car - if we build it, they will buy it because it's a land rover.
I can tell you that I won't be paying 60k plus for a vehicle that leaks, has a 71% chance of breaking down in the first three years (Land Rover revealed as the UK's least reliable car, as 71 per cent over three years-old break down at least once a year | Mail Online) or has no safety to speak of.

End of rant.