AIMS: Land Rover commits to 21st Century Defender

Land Rover has confirmed there'll be a new Defender after 2013.

Visiting Australia for the Australian International Motor Show (AIMS) in Melbourne, Land Rover's Global Director of Sales Operations, Phil Popham, advised that the company would definitely go ahead with a successor to the ancient design.

"We will replace Defender; that is now formally in our sight," Popham said, while outlining a five-year plan for the company. During that period the entire model range will be replaced and the company is hoping to double sales.

"It took me five years to get [Defender] into the cycle plan," he continued; "it's one of the early promises I made when I became MD of Land Rover..."

It has been such a battle to reach this point because, while much of the design was amortised back in the dark ages, the vehicle doesn't sell in exceptionally large numbers to support a business case for it in the light of draconian new emissions and safety legislation expected in Europe over the next few years.

"Everyone knows Defender; most people in the world have seen the Defender at some stage, but we do sell them in very small numbers," the Land Rover exec said. "We don't sell more than 20,000 Defenders a year; and part of the challenge... why it's taken so long to [settle on] how we're going to approach this is 'how do you replace an icon?'..."

Despite the complexity of marketing a vehicle such as the Defender over the broader spectrum of appropriate market segments — and ensuring that buyers of the new vehicle won't be disappointed — Popham says that Land Rover has "come to the conclusion" that the company can make money out of investing in a new Defender, although it's "more likely" to emerge at "the end of the [five-year] business plan".

So prepare for a fracture in the space/time continuum. And steel yourself for another shock to the system too. According to local MD David Blackhall, Land Rover may take a leaf out of Toyota's book.

"I'm going to use the wrong words here... because it's not what we're going to do," he told the Carsales Network, "But if you think of the FJ Cruiser as a version of the [FJ40] LandCruiser... think of the Defender in that way, three or four years from now."

That suggests that the next Defender will retain some heritage styling (and packaging) cues, but won't go retro as Toyota has done with the FJ Cruiser.

Rumours in recent times have canvassed the prospect of Defender production moving to India. Logically, the traditional offroad vehicles, which are very labour-intensive to build, could be manufactured far more cost-effectively in India, where the cost of labour is much lower.

In response, Blackhall expressed the view that such an initiative may not be necessary once the new model arrives. Presumably a much more modern version of the Defender would also be engineered for easier and faster manufacture, which could enhance build quality also.

Asked subsequently whether there would be both goods-carrying (commercial) models as well as passenger-carrying variants in the next-gen Defender, Land Rover's Marketing and Public Affairs Manager, Tim Krieger, said that decision was "still very much in the embryonic stage," but the company is expected to "have more news later in the year."

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