Defender ute no HiLux clone
A ute version of the iconic Land Rover 4WD is on the drawing board, but with a twist...Land Rover has grand plans to expand its new-generation Defender range beyond its initial launch in 2015, but don’t expect a potential crew-cab ute derivative to mimic key rivals like the Toyota HiLux.
The British off-road brand has already tested the waters with ute and wagon versions of the DC100 concept and Land Rover's Global Brand Director John Edwards has previously said there will be up to five Defender body styles in future, including a crew-cab ute.
But Land Rover design boss Gerry McGovern said that if a 'lifestyle' oriented ute did get the green light, it wouldn't be in the same vein as some of Australia's most popular workhorse utes.
“There'll be different derivatives [of the 2015 Defender] potentially,” said McGovern at last week’s global reveal of the new Range Rover Sport in New York.
“There could be a crew-cab pick-up if we felt that was appropriate ... if we could get it to work financially.
“[But] I think we want to try and always do something that is a bit different from the competition.
“This does things in a different way to those vehicles. It is about maintaining the individuality.
“That's what we're working through. We've got the vision,” said McGovern, adding that “one or two” Defender variants would be launched initially from the middle of this decade.
Land Rover’s long-running Defender wagon remains available in two different wheelbases (90- and 110-inch), while the Defender ute is offered in 110 single-cab, hard-top and crew-cab, and 130 single-cab chassis, crew-cab chassis and crew-cab pick-up guises – all powered by a 2.2-litre turbo-diesel engine.
If Land Rover does produce a new Defender crew-cab, it would unlikely be based on the unitary (monocoque) aluminium chassis expected to underpin the new Defender wagon.
A more likely scenario would be a hybrid car/truck chassis like those seen under vehicles like the Commodore and Falcon utes, designed to deliver car-like refinement and dynamics while maintaining a load-bearing rear end.
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