2016 'Defender'

For all of you who think the new defender will be a show pony,read the article Didge posted,Toyota spent how many 100 millions making the 79 meet Australian mine standards,they would not have spent that money if there wasn't a rich market for it,yes they lost out on the dual cab but that's because they are $80,000 to buy,the mines and mum/dad buyers bought light duty DC's instead.Do you think Land Rover would not know about not only our resource sector but Europe's as well?,the biggest coal mine in Germany use unregistered 79 series ute's on site,with the LC going LR would be the only player in town and having said Defender must meet volume sales figures to be viable,building a modern version of the present one would tick all the box's,a DC100 type vehicle wouldn't. Pat

Really hope you're right Pat. ...but my first question is: Why has Defender, especially the 130, NOT been king of the mines or Central/Northern Australia already? - I'm talking total absence!! I suggest it's Land Rover's absolute lack of understanding or valuing of these markets, including virtually no sales/service agents in Central and northern Australia...and I don't see any signs of this attitude changing...??

Question 2: why doesn't the category WORK feature in Land Rover's promo alongside Luxury and Recreation as their priorities? Why do they keep talking about Hilux as some kind of global benchmark??

Still not convinced. Really hope I'm wrong.

It was,when I first started in the mines I worked at HVO coal mine,we had a fleet of 130's,then the town dealer closed so no direct support and the mine safe rules came into play and it was all over,the OCE of that mine drove one of the first Td6 L322 series Range Rovers to come into the country.I don't get the negativity,Land Rover are not stupid and people need to get away from the cafe vehicle mindset,if it wasn't for the cafe,Freelander,Evoque and new Discovery Sport vehicles Land Rover wouldn't have the capital to invest in Defender,too many of you,many on this thread are blinded by that thinking and fail to see the big picture,last year Land Rover sold more vehicles than ever before in it's history and financially the company is very strong,it has both the time,money and infrastructure to build both the alloy bodied D4 replacement and Defender. Pat

This is an interesting thread - lots of varied opinions and concerns but all with the same hope :)

Who knows,....anything?
What the "New" defender will be, what it will be, in what market it will sell, depends to a large extent, what "importance" JLR place upon it.
Maybe Defender,whilst still being the Icon, is not as important in the overall "Picture" to JLR as it once was?...Who knows?
Pickles.

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Originally Posted by MrLandy

And that's the end of Defender.

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No that's the middle model defender. They are doing a 3 prong approach to each sector. Currently you have 3 levels of north shore/ tourak tractor, there are 2 soccer mom discos and my guess from their info their will be 2-3 different sized defenders, one about amarok/ranger/hilux size, one around vitara, Rav 4 , cherokee size, and maybe a bigger one if the market can justify it/ sufficient USA demand.
There is a hole in the off-road smaller ute market and genuine off road small 4door wagon( vitara and cherokee trail hawk only 2 ), large sales in the hilux/ranger size globally, with a wagon using identical front panels/drivetrain.

Next-gen Defender to be built in Eastern Europe

That might not be popular in England but probably makes financial sense

I live in hope that LR have had a long hard talk to the MOD and other key customers about the base requirements for a work vehicle for 2020 - 2040 .

If they do that, we should all be happy with the results.
If not, well i've got mine :)

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Originally Posted by AndyG

I live in hope that LR have had a long hard talk to the MOD and other key customers about the base requirements for a work vehicle for 2020 - 2040.

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Finally! Someone else calling for a real world work vehicle, not just more boutique world playmobiles! Well said AndyG.