Watch the boards, in five years people will be asking what they need to convert one to four wheel drive....
Becouse people will buy them thinking that the £5K & road-tax saving is worth while, but the 4x4 versions will hold their value better for longer.
By the time they have fallen into the 'average' car price bracket, there'll be folk buying them becouse they seem like a 'bargain' and STILL believing that Land-Rovers are ALL still like the old Series vehicles, big mechano-kits, and they can easily add the bits missing to make it 4wd!
Pretty sure they'll be able to flog a few, but........
Me-thinks is desperation on the part of LR Management that they are even considering departing from all-wheel drive/
And no, its not the first 2wd vehicle by a long shot.
Series were 2wd with 'selectable' 4wd.
Free-landers are fwd with 'automatically engaging' drive at the back wheels curtecy of the high-bias visco unit.
AND there was the Mil-Spec 2wd only Series vehicles. Pretty sure they came along in SII, but seem to recall an SI version, though might have been a proto-type or something.
And they weren't just for the Belgians, aparently there wasa brief for a 2wd 'light utility' but for commonality of spares, MOD asked LR to fill it with a Landy lacking driven front axle. Short lived, they realised that there wasn't much point and ended up dropping the idea and ordering AWD variants, but they were in service with the BRitish Armed forces, most I think ending up in the care of the RAF for running about air-fields.
Have a feeling that the order was originally from the Army catering core though......
Battle-Field Burger-Vans perhaps!?!
