Rendering of how the LRD could look like.
In the past 66 years or so since production began, the Land Rover Defender has changed very little. Retaining its boxy and muscular look, it bullied its way through the air, daring aerodynamics to challenge it. But in 2013, Land Rover (LR) announced that the fabled Defender will no longer be made post 2015. But if these images are anything to go by, you can rest assure that LR will bring back the legend in the family back from the tomb. According to Autocar UK, this is how the SUV would mostly likely look like when released.
According to Autocar UK, LR has already finalised on the design of the Defender. The most affordable member of the LR family will have its concept form revealed to the public at any one of the big Auto Shows in 2016. Land Rover claims this Defender will be up to the challenge and can head-butt its way through whatever mother-nature throws at it. There are assumptions that the new Defender would have an all-aluminium monocoque platform, but this hasn’t been confirmed by Land Rover, yet.
Rough sketches of the upcoming LR Defender.
The next-gen Land Rover Defender is to powered by a new breed of engines by JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) called the Ingenium series. These could include four-cylinder petrol and four-pot diesel powerplants. There could also be a couple of V6 engines on offer and all of these motors will come mated to new 8- and 9-speed automatic transmissions. There are no talks going around about a manual gearbox for the Defender.
According to some reports conducted by Land Rover, Defender owners like their cars to be tough enough for them to hose the interiors after their play in the wilderness. So when the design team at LR coined the term ‘Premium Durability’ for the upcoming Defender, we are sure every Defender loyalist out there hopes the toughness of this SUV will be carried forward to this new iteration, too. The design boffins are also aiming to make the cabin of this Defender a lot more premium than that of Toyota’s king of all-road, the Land Cruiser.
Image courtesy and Source – Autocar UK