Thread: new defender 2019 ?

Originally Posted by MrLandy

True Juddy. ...but what's wrong with break-even in this world?

PS: what right does JLR have to call it a Defender anyway, when they are no longer targeting the Defence markets, in favour of targeting the glorified shopping trolley market?

Nothing wrong with break even, but these days that thinking is long gone, profit driven enterprise, times have changed, old school is over....

LRWW have every right to do how they see fit with the Defender brand, people who cry about loosing the old Defender they can do with out, global market share is prime factor for profit, and a good platform, such a platform will sell on the iconic name anyway win win for LR, , its not going to be aimed at the die hard landy tragic. That would be one big failure.

I don't see myself as a die hard LR tragic, but rather an appreciator of excellent design as a priority over profit. The current Defender isn't actually old school to me because nothing else has caught up IMO. And...it runs a state of the art universal engine and gearbox, it's just that hand building is not profitable enough.

They would have stopped making Defenders years ago if they were losing money. Just goes to show what the priorities and profit margins are on other vehicles...Disco 4 is twice the retail price and twice as efficient to build ...hmm

Four years, is a long time to wait, for the "New" Defender. Sometimes I "wonder" whether JLR actually know what they're doing re the new Defender, but in reality, Im very sure that they do.
For many years now, Defender has probably not been as important to JLR as WE think it should've been, because they've had far more important projects, involving many new models, all of which have been successful, and which are making big dollars. So, Defender hasn't big in their overall picture.
JLR's in the business to make money, with that in mind, and with the competition that a "utalitarian" vehicle will face, I reckon it would be a difficult process to decide what it should be, & where it will "fit in", and to be competitively priced with respect to the enormous competition that it will face.
Pickles.

...I reckon they don't know what to do because none of the JLR designers are tradies, miners, defence or long term rough-country end users. They all drive Range Rovers and Disco Sports to their country estates and that's it. ...it's plain to see where their priorities lie, agreed. ...all Land Rover vehicles virtually look and fulfil the same purpose as each other now.

They should outsource the design to us 😎

Profit is not a new thing, it's been around for 1000s of years, people don't go into business to break even, they go into business to make money, you can't move forward and create new technology and designs if you only break even.

The new Defender should be a bit wider so your right arm has a bit more room. The upright seating position should stay though. It should be a tradition beam axle suspension for ease of servicing and durability. Again thinking strength it should be a traditional ladder type chassis too. They can do what they want with the body and fit horrible plastic bumpers if they feel they need to and fit all the airbags they need, but under the skin it still needs to be a Defender. Jeep Wrangler have their faults, but they comply with all the safety and emission regs without being a total shopping trolley. A decent Defender can be done, but it wont be as there is too much money in designing that sort of car so it will be another shopping trolley sadly. Then our Defenders will get quite valuable IMO. I hope I am wrong, but I dont think so
Chris

Originally Posted by cafe latte

The new Defender should be a bit wider so your right arm has a bit more room. The upright seating position should stay though. It should be a tradition beam axle suspension for ease of servicing and durability. Again thinking strength it should be a traditional ladder type chassis too. They can do what they want with the body and fit horrible plastic bumpers if they feel they need to and fit all the airbags they need, but under the skin it still needs to be a Defender. Jeep Wrangler have their faults, but they comply with all the safety and emission regs without being a total shopping trolley. A decent Defender can be done, but it wont be as there is too much money in designing that sort of car so it will be another shopping trolley sadly. Then our Defenders will get quite valuable IMO. I hope I am wrong, but I dont think so
Chris

The Wrangler is going the same way apparently, if Land Rover were serious about the keeping Defender as close as possible to it's currant design(which they won't) they could design it along the lines of the G-Wagon, now there's a 4WD that looks similar to it's predecessor.

Land Rovers approach to world markets with their current range of Range Rovers , Discoverys, Evoques and now Disco Sport has been nothing short of sensational.

To continue this , they DO need that time to ensure the defender replacement is in the same league.

It really needs to be focussed in the current family 4wd/wagon/ute market but that's JLR's problem not mine.

It simply means for myself and hundreds of thousands of potential customers ,as to whether or not they will ever buy a new Land Rover. JLR make nothing out of the 2nd hand market. It has to be marketable to the masses. They have all the other bases covered.

I have posted other views on this in the pinnacles.