Long wait for Aussie Land Rover Defender

Fans of the Land Rover Defender have been warned not to get too excited by the arrival of camouflaged prototypes in the USA.

The public appearance of the Defender prototypes is being used by Jaguar Land Rover as the start of a massive public relations onslaught for the crucial new model, as well as a way of introducing the Defender to private owners in the USA for the first time.

But the first Defender deliveries in Australia will not happen for more than a year and the company is not even ready to open the local order books.

“We won’t see the Defender here until 2020,” confirms Tim Krieger of Jaguar Land Rover Australia.

“It’s too early to even start taking deliveries. The model line-up is still to be confirmed.”
The build-up to the replacement of the Defender began back in 2011 with the motor show appearance of the DC 100, a polarising concept vehicle. It was more like a kid’s toy than a real four-wheel wheel but JLR wanted to test the public reaction to its very boxy look.

The DC 100 was morphed with a series of different body styles and colours for different motor shows before being withdrawn from the public eye.

Now, the new camouflage-wrapped prototypes are genuine Defender test vehicles and point to a public unveiling sometime within the next six months.

JLR is not being drawn on details but it is extremely unlikely to show the production Defender - the name continues - at a motor show. Shows have been in massive decline in recent years and even the biggest of 2019, the Frankfurt Motor Show in the second half of the year, will not give JLR the impact it needs.

Krieger will not comment on the launch event, or the timing, but he admits that JLR has moved away from motor shows and has had a good response to its own launch events with everything from the Range Rover Velar to the upcoming Evoque II.

But he is prepared to hint on timing, based on the need to open the Defender production pipeline in the final months of this year.

“We should be ready for customer orders late this year. There is no confirmation yet, but it’s looking that way,” he says.

No-one at JLR is prepared to talk about what is under the camouflage of the test vehicles, even if the company is using them as bait for buyers.

“People will just have to wait. But they will get the answers this year,” says Krieger.

The all-new Defender is the replacement for one of the world’s most charismatic and long running off-roaders, having started its life in the 1940s and running through to 2016.

Its project number is L851 and there will be the usual plethora of body styles, as well as a battery electric model before 2025.

The model line-up is expected to include a Defender Sport, codenamed L860, and the mechanical package will be built around a modern aluminium architecture with independent rear suspension.

Buyers will be able to choose the number of doors, the size and style of engine - petrol and diesel - for uses from all-out country mud plugger to city runabout.