Motor show sidelines are some of the best places to catch official representatives revealing (semi-official) clues in regards to their future plans, and it was in New York that Land Rover’s design director, Gerry McGovern, dropped hints as to what they were going to do with the Defender name plate.
We already know that, like Discovery, it will no longer designate a specific model, but an entire family of models. However, up until now, we weren’t entirely sure what those models were going to be like.
According to Car&Driver, McGovern let slip that he’d “be worried if lots of traditional Discovery owners looked at [the Discovery Vision concept] and said, “I love it!” Because it has moved on. It’ll be Defender, the new Defenders—and I wouldn’t take note of those concept vehicles we did a couple of years ago—that’ll show you that sense of overt ruggedness.”
In addition, he also suggested that the name Defender would still be built upon the same core pillars as before: durability, ruggedness and the option for buyers to get their vehicle fairly cheap, by not specifying any luxuries.
Interestingly, the design boss did however point out that, while even older Defenders and Discoveries were very different in principle, construction and intended utilization, they both eventually ended up being used mostly on the road, “shuttling around kids, carrying groceries” and “heading off to the mountains for a ski weekend.”
Do also check out the video test drive review of the topless DC100 concept – it’s currently the closest thing we have to a new Defender.
By Andrei Nedelea
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