New Defender Pickup offered in two V8 flavours
Aftermarket ventures where LR dares not tread, with Heritage and Urban Edition 130 pickups on the way
Surely even Land Rover couldn’t have predicted the Defender to have been such a runaway success. Of course, it was going to be popular: the name, the look and the sheer capability of the package would see to that. But not to the extent of them being everywhere. And that’s ensured a clamour for new models, from eight-seat bus to rally raid wannabe, V8 hot hatch to long wheelbase van. But there’s one variant that hasn’t been committed to yet by Land Rover, a familiar one from the Defender’s back catalogue: the Pickup.
And, let’s be honest, it’s hardly likely to. The Defender has very consciously moved away from its commercial roots with the current generation; those that actually need a double-cab 4x4 with a load bed don’t also need leather-lined luxury and five hundred horsepower. There’s an Ineos Grenadier for that, after all, or an Isuzu D-Max.
But in the same way that JLR wasn’t going to make a Defender Convertible like the old one, it doesn’t mean that well-heeled demand doesn’t exist somewhere. So Heritage Customs in the Netherlands, having previewed such a thing last year, now offers a Pickup. Quite who the customer is for one and what they’ll use it for it’s hard to know, but you can rest assured that they exist - there was a launch event party for them over the weekend and everything.
The Defender Heritage Edition Pickup is built from a V8 130, meaning more than sufficient space for five people, as well as a load bay. It’s a similar idea to the 130 Outbound, in fact, albeit of course without the rear section of roof. Heritage Customs says its creation is ‘refined, elegant, and authentically classic’; certainly it looks more cohesive for this current car than the Convertible did. Even if Defenders look a bit underdressed with a spare wheel on the back.
The door for the bed opens as it does on a 130 (so best choose the very longest parking spaces possible), the roof rack sits atop just nicely, and the additional bodywork around the rear windscreen means the load bay doesn’t look totally incongruous. Naturally, it won’t be to all tastes, the Defender Pickup, especially with Heritage Customs liberal application of leather and suede, but you can see why a few folk who want something eminently usable, yet also a bit different, might be keen.
Jan-Pieter Kroezen, CEO of Heritage Customs, said: “After completing the convertible, it felt like the right time to bring another ‘forgotten’ model of the Land Rover Defender range back to life — the pickup. The classic 110 Defender crew cab has always been, in my view, one of the most desirable Defenders ever made. I had a strong sense that we could capture that same spirit with the new Defender 130, and I’m proud to say we’ve achieved exactly that.”
And if the Heritage Edition isn’t the Defender truck for you, then something called the Urban Edition is coming as well. Both Heritage Customs and Urban Automotive have worked together to create the Defender Pickup, with different takes on the end product. Where the Heritage was meant to be sophisticated and timeless, the Urban is ‘powerful, contemporary and unmistakably commanding.’ So it’s black everywhere, has arch extensions like it wants to be a Sterrato, and features a bonnet that’s as much carbon vent as it is metal. While the full production version isn’t expected until next year’s Festival of Speed, don’t expect the real Urban Edition to differ much from these renders. Because look how many black-on-black Defenders are already out there…
The Heritage is available to configure right now, though, with various paint, material, wheel, decal and accessory options on offer to customers. The price is €50,000-€75,000, depending on spec, so in the region of £44,000-£66,000 at current exchange rates. Expect the Urban Automotive build to be priced similarly, with the potential benefit of being based in Milton Keynes rather than Naarden Vesting. Either Pickup is going to be a significant investment for a Defender owner, that’s for sure, though you only need to spend two minutes in the classifieds to see there are plenty of £100k-plus examples out there, both standard and modified. So don’t be surprised to see one or two Urban Edition trucks in there soon enough…
Either way, yes it's silly, I can't see the market for someone who has a need for a pickup bed and has £40k to spend on it on top of a defender. Just buy an actual pickup and a defender?
If sales were limited to those who could demonstrate a categoric need for a rugged 'off roader' and who would provide evidence that the would go green-laning once a week, or lived on a farm, or at the end of an un-tarmaced road, they would have failed years ago.
If there something wrong with a family using a Defender as a family bus?
Do the same people criticise the owners of a 911/Aston Martin Vantage/MR Supercar/Lotus Elise/Boxster/MX5/Bentley CGT/etc when they use it to commute or do the school?
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