2020 Land Rover Defender to go mainstream

The highly-anticipated Land Rover Defender is being touted as a future volume player in Australia, with numerous body styles and trim levels along with a broader emphasis on safety.

The British car-maker’s enduring nameplate has been a mainstay with remote communities, enthusiasts and the off-roaders alike ever since the original Land Rover Series 1 of 1948.

However, Land Rover wants the new Defender due in 2020 to be one of its volume models, akin to that of the popular Discovery Sport. To do that, the Defender will be offered in “multiple bodystyles”.

While the Defender is yet to be formally revealed – outside of heavily camouflaged test mules – the boss of Jaguar Land Rover Australia, Mark Cameron, is already looking to Toyota’s LandCruiser and Prado for motivation.

“It will be at the top as one of our highest volume cars,” Cameron said.

“When you see our announcements around this car, you will see it will be a very wide, stretched range. We will compete with some of the volume manufacturers but we will also go up to very powerful, very luxurious versions of the Defender.

“We will have a range that will span to cater to many different people, just like our competitors’ products. Toyota’s LandCruiser is not dissimilar.”

Cameron was quick to endorse the new Defender’s utilitarian roots, having seen the vehicle for himself behind closed doors. Land Rover says the Defender prototypes have now clocked more than 1.2 million in durability testing.

The new offering is expected to be unveiled on the eve of this year’s Frankfurt motor show, with an Australian arrival slated for the first quarter of 2020.

“The new Defender’s going to be the most capable car we’ve ever built,” Cameron said.

“The psyche of the Australian consumer is to be outdoors, very sports- and adventure-orientated – you look at the amount of product in that market there’s a great opportunity to go at.

“Couple that with our historic love of older incarnations of Defender – which was very much a heart rather than a head product … I think we’ve got to take that positivity and opportunity and bring something that’s going to be thoroughly modern as well.”

Cameron’s definition of “thoroughly modern” will include safety provisions. Recent off-road releases such as the Suzuki Jimny (three-star) and Jeep Wrangler (one-star) haven’t been kindly received by crash-testing authorities.

Land Rover plans to do things differently.

“We have to have a car that is capable of doing incredible things off road but also has the comfort and refinement of a Land Rover and meet an acceptable level of safety for pedestrians, drivers and occupants,” he said.

“[The Wrangler’s safety] strategy might be right for Jeep but that’s not what we’re going for.”

Equally, Land Rover accepts that durability and reliability will be key mandates for prospective Defender customers in Australia. Cameron understands that earning Toyota’s rock-solid reputation is a tall order Down Under.

“You have to earn that, and reputations are hard worn and fast lost, as we know,” Cameron admitted.

“The only way in honesty that we win that reputation back is by proving it in reality. One of the reasons the product (Defender) is a little bit later than we wanted is that we had to make sure it was absolutely right.

“We’ve put the right rigour into the testing and engineering so that by the time we bring it to the customer it’s exactly the car we want it to be.

“You win those reputations back over a long period. We’ve engineered it to a level of durability that none of our other cars have had.

“We want to make sure there are features in this car that are genuinely not offered by anybody else. We want to bring some new ideas.”