RE: Land Rover Defender | Frankfurt 2019

[prand]

oop north said:

The landmark 110 was £62k before any extras and the V8 was £150k though the base 110 was around 33k I think. Though “base” was very much the word

Kind of ties in with my experience this weekend cycling along the Ridgeway through Wiltshire and Berkshire, down farm tracks and byways. Saw plenty of Japanese pickups out in the fields, only a very small handful of much older Land Rovers and early edition Discoveries, and not a single Post Tata JLR product seen anywhere whatsoever.

I expect this Defender will, as the later versions of Defenders were not either, used at all as a farmer's workhorse, and lack of pickup too will reinforce that for the future.

It may well be a hit in the premium leisure and lifestyle market though.

[unsprung]

Mammasaid said:

unsprung said:

Regarding a pickup version of the new Defender:

A "senior" source at JLR has confirmed that this has been dropped from the range. Said source has an interesting explanation of why. I'll leave it to you to decide how interesting.

https://www.motoring.com.au/new-land-rover-defende...

(apologies if old hat)

It was always very unlikely as soon as they'd made the switch to a monocoque design. It's a lot harder to chop into and maintain rigidity.

the Honda Ridgeline, a unibody pickup, always caught my attention

[2xChevrons]

unsprung said:

Mammasaid said:

unsprung said:

Regarding a pickup version of the new Defender:

A "senior" source at JLR has confirmed that this has been dropped from the range. Said source has an interesting explanation of why. I'll leave it to you to decide how interesting.

https://www.motoring.com.au/new-land-rover-defende...

(apologies if old hat)

It was always very unlikely as soon as they'd made the switch to a monocoque design. It's a lot harder to chop into and maintain rigidity.

the Honda Ridgeline, a unibody pickup, always caught my attention

It's an interesting choice of reason, in that it rules out a pick-up/double-cab version on purely marketing/product grounds, not the capabilities of the platform, structure or running gear.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if we indeed never get a pick-up New Defender, given it's place in the world and its intended market, but I also wouldn't rule out one being released in a few years (or on the second-generation version, assuming this Defender doesn't have a life cycle measured in decades like the last one...) because of 'unprecedented customer demand' or whatever.

Car makers do a lot of this. From LR's own history, when they introduced the 2.5-litre diesel on the One Ten in 1984 they categorically ruled out there ever being a petrol version as the existing 2.25-litre version was good enough. A year later they introduced a 2.5-litre petrol engine. When the Discovery was launched there was never going to be a five-door version because otherwise it would compete with the Range Rover - two years after introduction we got a five-door Disco. At the same time you couldn't buy a Defender 90 County Station Wagon between 1990 and 1992 because LR decided that anyone who wanted a seven-seat 4x4 with a Tdi engine and a decent veneer of comfort would buy a Disco. Once the Disco had settled (and moved slightly upmarket) the 90 CSW was unobstrusively relaunched.

It's just 'forward-loading' the stand-out features of the new model and shifting the most lucrative and popular variants while the new model is fresh, desirable and in the public eye. The New Defender has the side-panniers, the factory-fit roof rack and the high-rated roof load as some of its distinctive features, so of course LR are going to push it and try and say that it makes a pick-up of some sort redundant. In five years when the hype has died down a little they may well decide that they can give sales another boost with some sort of pick-up. Or maybe the numbers won't add up. Who knows.

Think of other times some new car has been launched and the line has been "We won't introduce an estate model because our range-topping executive liftback with asymmetric rear seats makes it pointless" or "There won't be a 4WD version because our clever new super-duper traction control system is better than that" and then just such a variant or feature has been slid into the range later on.

[N1K]

Edited by N1K on Monday 16th September 19:31

[gizlaroc]

N1K said:

[url]

Wow!

That is impressive.

[Pesty]

Ten times better without that stupid square.

speced mine in black with some sort of black pack. Looked great

Edit not mine just playing on the configurator but if somebody could buy one like that, that would be nice. I’ll have it off you in 5 years

[N1K]

[N1K]

[loudlashadjuster]

I give it until the MY2021 refresh before that stupid packed lunch box disappears from the options list

[Sporky]

Or is replaced with a sandwich toaster.

[Burnham]

gileshudson said:

I'm no car designer, and certainly no graphic designer, so my Photoshop mockup is shoddy to say the least, but I'd have liked to see more of the old much-loved Defender look at the front, with a full round headlight...

Looks great...shame they have tried to make it look a little more agressive really.

[InitialDave]

I can see the point of the outer lockers, it's not that hard to end up with stuff you don't want inside a vehicle, e.g. things that have been dunked in stagnant water.

Even if you can hose the car out afterwards, you still have to smell them all the way home!

[dmsims]

InitialDave said:

I can see the point of the outer lockers, it's not that hard to end up with stuff you don't want inside a vehicle, e.g. things that have been dunked in stagnant water.

Even if you can hose the car out afterwards, you still have to smell them all the way home!

I think it will be bottles of Evian and Latte cups!

[unsprung]

Burnham said:

gileshudson said:

I'm no car designer, and certainly no graphic designer, so my Photoshop mockup is shoddy to say the least, but I'd have liked to see more of the old much-loved Defender look at the front, with a full round headlight...

Looks great...shame they have tried to make it look a little more agressive really.

+1

[DonkeyApple]

InitialDave said:

I can see the point of the outer lockers, it's not that hard to end up with stuff you don't want inside a vehicle, e.g. things that have been dunked in stagnant water.

Even if you can hose the car out afterwards, you still have to smell them all the way home!

I like the car but that box on the side is going to be a bit like just writing ‘I’m a cocksocket’ down the side of the car. It’s attempting to solve a problem that simply doesn’t exist and while that’s fine for some brands it all seems a bit stupid for LR who are in the business of solving real problems for consumers not inane ones for inane buyers of inane produce.

What it is basically saying is that this is a product for the kind of adventurer who is too thick to work out how to store their dirty things in a car and too pathetic a creature to be able to risk any kind of smell that isn’t essence of petunia. Basically a lobotomised Luis Walsh. And then it’s going to get ripped off within minutes of heading off on your adventure.

Superb car but the chappie who signed off on that ‘tool’ box wants to have a word with themselves.

[dandare]

N1K said:

Edited by N1K on Monday 16th September 19:31

What are they trying to show there? That one can park on a high kerb?
Or are they tricking the ignorant into think it has good articulation?

[JonnyVTEC]

It’s a 4x4 showing off road prowess to muggles.

[Bill]

dandare said:

Or are they tricking the ignorant into think it has good articulation?

Very witty with the high kerb thing, but it does have good articulation. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't have better articulation than an old one.

[ben5575]

Bill said:

Very witty with the high kerb thing, but it does have good articulation. I'd be very surprised if it doesn't have better articulation than an old one.

Please, for the love of god, don't go there again. There's been already 30 pages of thread pollution on this and related topics.

[Bill]

You're out by a factor of 10.

Sorry.