Thread: New Defender Identity

I received the October-November issue of "Christophorous" this is Porsche magazine.

This issue covers the launching of the new 911 generation. For this the editorial was nothing but a duotorial between Jay Leno (America's most popular television hosts-and a car collector) and Matthias Müller (Porsche AG's CEO since 2010).

To make a long story short, both gentlemen were discussing about what makes the Identity of an Iconic car such as the 911.

I find that they could have been talking about the Defender and I wished Land Rover people would think the same way.

Leno: For me, quality is an absolutely crucial part of identity. There are few sports cars I know that I bet wouldn't even make it to 30,000 miles. But when I head to the studio every morning, I see Porsches that have been on the road for sixty years. And that are as great as ever.

Müller: These days the term sustainability is often overused, but in our case it really does fit. So our designers don't always have it easy. Icons represent stability; you can't make fundamental changes to them. You have to adapt, arrange, integrate them. I firmly believe that it is this very continuity that makes Porsche so inimitable.

The 911 is more than just a new car. It is our brand; it is our benchmark for today, for tomorrow, and for the day after tomorrow. If we should ever ask ourselves where we want to be, a look at the 911 would tell us right away. That is our standard.

Leno: I like the Porsche engineer's approach. It's a rule from sports that they learned early on: Give us the rules; we'll find the solution. The ones I have met are all fighters. That's something I see as an integral part of identity. Even more: in my opinion, it represent's you company's greatest virtues.

Müller: Our claim is that we have mastered contrasting pairs. For example, we have taken design and functionality - two things that at first glance appear to be in conflict with one another - and brought them into harmony. The same applies to tradition and innovation. And the 911 is our benchmark here as well.

I invite you to read the text again replacing Porsche by Land Rover and 911 by Defender.

I guess this is how we would have got the new Defender that we would have been all proud of and most important willing to buy.

I agree. The Defender and the 911 are possibly the only true iconic cars to survive to this day.

In my humble opinion, Jay Leno's first point, quality, doesn't necessarily apply to the Land Rover. Having reasonable experience working on both 911s and Land Rovers, I can say that Porsche's build quality is far superior. Being a multiple Land Rover owner I think I can safely say this without causing too much offense .

I think the Defender's longevity is due to design and functionality and, as with the 911, tradition. Also, the Series/coil sprung Land Rover is hugely practical vehicle, and has always set the standard in off road performance.

How many other cars still in production can we consider as iconic as the Defender and the 911? The real Mini died off a bit over a decade ago, and the Volkswagen Type 1 (to be completely PC ) ceased low volume production in 2004. Do we put the Jeep CJ/Wrangler in this class? What else is left?


James.