Rover just screwed the pooch.....again. You think they would have learned with the Explorer, I mean Discovery 5. They drag their feet and get beat to the market, then they're always being compared back to something else.
Now Rover has drug their feet again with the new Defender, and guess what? Jeep just released the new Defender 130(Gladiator). It won't matter what Rover comes out with, there's a 99.9% chance it won't be as cool as the Gladiator, but will probably cost more.
The new Defender will look like shit, but the faithful will justify buying it to themselves somehow, just like they did with the Discovery Cinco. Everyone knows its a turd, but people justify it by saying "it grows on you"or "it looks better in person". Nobody has to say that about the Gladiator. It looks like it should.
Congratulations Rover, you just lost half your Defender market before you even released it.