The rot began when the Evoque trundled off the crayon drawing board. When you start making vehicles gender neutral to extent it's a glorified tarts boudoir then you failed. Defender died when the last one rolled off a few years back. Trying to remake a new version for the corporate set to compete with G wagon is a road to failure. It's not a Defender rename it. Now the buzz for EV is the same make a heavy vehicle heavier and look like a Tonka toy. To whom is the market farmers military utilities Trans lobby
The defender was basically ignored since the 90s, aside from engine swaps mostly driven by Euro specs I imagine. Land Rover had no intention of sticking with the workhorse image, else they would have made a D1 pickup which through brand loyalty alone could have stopped the army of japanese pickups
Quite agree with you there. Don't know why, but the discovery would have been ideal as utility wagon.
It was, when you can't repair it with only a set of spanners, a welding kit and a big lump hammer in the boonies then it isn't really a proper utility vehicle.A lot of people think it was the end after series IIIs
It wasn't the utility aspect that forced LR's hand to move away from the Defender. It was the fact that its original crash worthiness compliance expired, and it was basically impossible to make that old design pass newer, much more stringent impact requirements.
I agree with you. It was cheap for them to keep producing the defender. Not sure I agree they wouldnt be around if they had gone the pickup route. The hilux already had a reputation as unbreakable and reliable when the D1 came out. In an alternate reality Top Gear would have been dropping discos into the sea and off cranesIt wasn't the utility aspect that forced LR's hand to move away from the Defender. It was the fact that its original crash worthiness compliance expired, and it was basically impossible to make that old design pass newer, much more stringent impact requirements.
LR also needed to sell lots of vehicles at higher prices to the wealthy executives, rather than to farmers who kept them going for generations.
It's sad but true, that LR wouldn't be around today, they hadn't moved find new wealthy customers, which is basically what they've done with all the modern vehicles they make.
For a company to survive in a changing world, they need to adapt, not be stuck in the past.
I wouldn't say no-one, but certainly not a mainstream market these days
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