2020 Defender

ERover82

Well-known member
Nov 26, 2011
3,899
450
Darien Gap
At least the the oval is muddy again.

2020-land-rover-defender-teaser.jpg


hose among us who’ve been waiting for the next generation to break cover ever since the old-school Defender bowed out of production at the beginning of 2016 will be glad to hear Land Rover will livestream the reveal event. Needless to say, Motor1.com will have the livestream up and running a few hours before it starts, with the British marque saying the event will begin at 9:50 AM CEST / 7:50 AM GMT / 3:50 AM Eastern Time.
 

SCSL

Well-known member
Apr 27, 2005
4,144
152
Here's another chop I found online. The infuriating thng is this: if they had rolled this out as the new Disco, I would love it. As the new "Defender", I hate it. I can't tell if that's because the D5 is so outrageously bad that I'm just conditioned to appreciate anything better, or if JLR just really did the mother of all fuck ups with the "Defender" by finding themselves unable to do what Jeep and Mercedes have had no problem doing. So I present to you what should have been the Disco 5:

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JackW

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2005
675
69
There is an idea - Buy one and peel off the Defender letters on the hood and replace them with Discovery. It will further confuse the masses.
 
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mgreenspan

Well-known member
Feb 28, 2005
4,723
130
Briggs's Back Yard
Do they think people enjoy their forced promotion thru their secretive testing leading up to their reveal? Where the heck have they been since the DC100 reveal?

They need US sales. Looking at the total numbers, UK, mainland Europe, and the US are all pretty close to total LR sales at around 9-12k per month. I’ll call it close enough. They needed to make this thing eat at the Jeep Wranglers, Jeep Grand Cherokees, and Toyota 4Runners. Instead they’ve gone after I don’t know what, the Discovery 5 and the elimination of all heritage except for a green oval.
 

Eliot

Well-known member
Feb 4, 2008
736
47
Bozeman, MT
They needed to make this thing eat at the Jeep Wranglers, Jeep Grand Cherokees

I wish they'd gone that route.

The Wrangler really is the heart and soul of Jeep. But credit to them, they do know who they are, and why people buy their vehicles. And so they continue to make Wranglers that look like Wranglers.

Compare that to JLR, which is channelling their inner Kia. At what point do you destroy the brand?
 

Lake_Bueller

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2004
2,105
59
56
Beloit, WI
Where was all the screaming when the Range Rover has gone from this...

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to this...

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Would I prefer a Defender that looks like a Defender....hell yeah! But time moves on. We either learn to adapt or get run over.
 

Eliot

Well-known member
Feb 4, 2008
736
47
Bozeman, MT
Good god. Sad what's become of this company.

A friend applied to work at National Geographic his first year out of school. It was the summer of 66, and NG was different then. Secretaries, and cigarettes. Most of the guys were WW2 Vets.

They talked for a while, and he realized that he wasn't what they were looking for. Which is the way it works sometimes. But he remembered the way the director just drank gin from start to finish, refilling his glass from the clear bottle, at the edge of his desk.

Looking at that video, everything is different now.
 
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Blueboy

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
3,205
459
Back in the USA; Rockwood, PA
Where was all the screaming when the Range Rover has gone from this...

View attachment 57243

to this...

View attachment 57244


Would I prefer a Defender that looks like a Defender....hell yeah! But time moves on. We either learn to adapt or get run over.

No screaming necessary imho.

Nice transition over the decades.

Same can be said with the 4 door version.

Since first introduced with a soft coil sprung chassis, permanent 4wd with 2 speed transfer box, and a decent interior, the real Rangie always has always been about comfort and capability - forget about the recent off shoots like the Evoque.

The Defender was a tractor with some refinement like doors, etc. - now it wants to be part of the comfort and capability culture.

Time and sales will show if indeed this is what buyers want in a Defender.
 
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DiscoHasBeen

Well-known member
Aug 7, 2016
1,171
262
Indy
The Discovery has been turned into a station wagon, so if the Defender is to replace it and take LR somewhat back to its roots so be it. That said this could have all been done a lot better, and loaded Wranglers topping out at 50k+ and almost 70k pickup trucks leads one to believe there's a market for an earlier Defender type vehicle here.
 
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Tugela

Well-known member
May 21, 2007
4,754
561
Seattle
The Discovery has been turned into a station wagon, so if the Defender is to replace it and take LR somewhat back to its roots so be it. That said this could have all been done a lot better, and loaded Wranglers topping out at 50k+ and almost 70k pickup trucks leads one to believe there's a market for an earlier Defender type vehicle here.

I think that's what Ineos is going for with the Projekt Grenadier. Will be interesting to see how that turns out. I'm sure those men and women have been watching the Defender roll-out like hawks.
 
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Blueboy

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
3,205
459
Back in the USA; Rockwood, PA