‘Dog's bollocks' Defender goes aluminium

Land Rover’s next-generation Defender, due in 2015, will be safer, more efficient, easier to drive and potentially a lot lighter thanks to a sophisticated new aluminium platform.

However, the next iteration of the iconic British off-roader will also be so distinctive, says Land Rover Design Director and board member Gerry McGovern, that the company is unlikely to preview it via a concept version for fear of it being copied.

“I'd be very worried about actually showing a concept of this because it's so good everyone will want to copy it,” McGovern told motoring.com.au at last week’s New York motor show, where the new Range Rover Sport made it world debut.

McGovern said the new Defender line-up would launch with “maybe one or two” variants before being expanded, but stressed the production model would not resemble the polarising DC100 concepts (pictured).

“We’ve moved it on from [DC100], and I think we’ve got something now that is even more relevant and even more desirable, and even the traditionalists will love me for it.

“This thing, I can assure you, will be incredibly distinctive. You'll look at it and you'll say 'That is a Defender' and there'll be nothing else like it.

“This car will be the absolute dog's bollocks.”

McGovern said the new Defender's platform has been locked in, effectively confirming it would be spun off the same new aluminium-based premium lightweight architecture (PLA) that underpins the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.

“Yeah, that [aluminium architecture] would be very much on the cards for it [the 2015 Defender]. It's a material that's ideal for us,” he said.

“Aluminium is something that we’re good at and we’ve started to use a lot more of. It offers massive savings in terms of weight.”

By moving away from the current car's body-on-frame steel ladder chassis design and fitting more efficient new engines, Land Rover's next Defender will gain access to more international markets including North America, where the current model fails to meet safety and emissions legislation.

The move to aluminium will grant significant weight savings too. When the latest Range Rover switched to aluminium underpinnings it shed more than 400kg at base level including a downsized engine, spelling lower fuel consumption and emissions.

McGovern indicated the same approach would apply to the next Defender, saying: “our engines can get smaller too”.

Until now Land Rover had considered less sophisticated underpinnings to maintain the low price point the next Defender will need if it is to achieve its target of 200,000 global annual sales within the next two decades -- up from the 15,000 sales it currently attracts.

Despite describing the philosophy behind the vehicle as “premium durability”, however, the outspoken Land Rover design chief says the new Defender's aluminium architecture won’t make it an expensive vehicle.

“It's all about how efficiently you design it,” he said of the Defender's lightweight new architecture.

“If we're going to invest 'X' amount of millions -- hundreds of millions -- on a new platform it's not going to wash its face if it only sells 15,000.

“It's going to need to sell in bigger numbers.”

The chairman of Land Rover parent company Tata Motors has already confirmed the Defender would be built in India, which will help keep costs down, and the new range is expected to include short-wheelbase, long-wheelbase, van, station wagon and pick-up derivatives.

The introduction of entry-level models could also improve the 4WD’s appeal. Just don't call them bog-standard...

“I don't like the term bog-standard,” said McGovern. “It's more about [Defender] pared right down to its essence. In its essence it hasn't got as many things on, but what it has got is right and it’s true and it has integrity.”

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