Land Rover Defender replacement is coming, at last

Land Rover's much-missed Defender is definitely coming... sometime soon. And the move to take the new Discovery more up-market means the brand will have more scope to appeal to a market that wants a proper, hard-as-nails SUV, according to the company's design boss, Gerry McGovern.

After initially scolding Australian journalists for constantly bothering him with questions about when Defender would be replaced - a reflection of the interest in the legendary off-roader in our local market - McGovern seemed pleased to announced that "Defender is coming".

Referring to the polarising concepts the company has been rolling out for the past five years at motor shows for a new Defender, McGovern said we should all ignore them, and expect a new SUV with a more appealing design, not too far removed from Evoque and the new Discovery.

"I'll tell you one thing about that Defender, it's going to be nothing like those bloomin' concept cars we showed a few years go, because we took the Mick with those," he jested.

"Our brand has been on a journey of transformation, and the Discovery is the latest step on that; it's less polarising, more appealing.

"We haven't always been known for great design in the past, because we came from a very functional base, the cars looked like they did so they could do what they had to, but that's what I want us to be known for; design.

"You'll see that on Defender, it is coming.

"We've pushed Discovery closer to Range Rover, which will allow the Defenders to come in under that."

McGovern says the brand will be split into three pillars, with Range Rover representing "it's me" exclusivity, Discovery being about versatility and "lifestyle-enabling", while "Defenders are going to be all about their durability".

The end goal is to have a much bigger family of Land Rovers available, allowing the company to build volume and tap into the huge growth in demand for SUVs, which it is well placed to capitalise on.

"The Defenders, when they come, there will be a whole family of them, and ff you look at where we currently are and where we could be in six or seven years time, it's a massive shift," McGovern said.

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