The eagerly awaited Land Rover Defender is expected to be available from 2020, but for those who can’t wait, the British motor company have revealed some images to whet the appetite.
Defender fans have been waiting a long time to finally see a production version of the all-new look SUV, the DC100 Concept was showcased seven years ago and though we will finally see the Land Rover Defender in 2019, it won’t be put into production until 2020.
What we do know is that the new Land Rover Defender will have none of the boxy design style of its predecessor, the company’s chief marketing officer, Felix Bräutigam all but confirmed this at the 2018 Paris Motor Show when he said: "The new Defender will not simply be a copy-cat, something retro. It will be something that moves the game on for Land Rover.
Our first, really excited customers should have their cars by 2020. We will stage it properly; the train has left the station but we are not rushing to a specific date. It’s exciting to now start getting one step closer to officially announcing the rebirth of an icon."
The company is planning electrified versions beyond 2020, and will introduce both a shorter and a family version of the classic marque. With the shorter Defender 90 expected to retail in the region of £40,000.
Production of the old school Land Rover Defender ended in January 2016 after a continuous production run of 67 years under various guises such as the Land Rover Ninety and the Land Rover One Ten.
The original vehicle, simply known as a Land Rover became synonymous with farming and combat, and though it came after the Second World War, owes some debt to that combat era as it was inspired by the American Jeeps which came across the Atlantic.
The original Land Rover was designed by Maurice Wilkes and is regarded as one of the icons of British design.