Land Rover’s design director, Gerry McGovern, says that the company is aiming to sell ten times as many next-generation Defenders as the outgoing model.
Speaking to Automotive News, McGovern said that when the replacement for the venerable Defender is released, Land Rover is aiming to sell 100,000 a year globally instead of 10,000.
For nearly 70 years, the Defender has been the lynchpin of the marque’s image as a well-heeled-but-rugged brand, but modern concerns like efficiency and crash safety are forcing it to retire its oldest model.
Joe Eberhardt, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover’s North American division, said: “Any replacement for an iconic vehicle is tough because the enthusiasts are certainly very vocal. They have an opinion on how to do it, but it's a huge opportunity at the same time.”
Solid details on the follow-up to the Defender are scant, but it’s expected that it’s due to launch in 2018 according to numerous reports, and could be built at Land Rover’s new factory in Slovakia.
Upon release, it’s expected to sit in the middle of the manufacturer’s three-tier line-up, with the Range Rover family at the top and the Discovery range as the more affordable options.
However, Land Rover recognises that while the Defender’s successor will have to be as rugged and capable as the original, it also needs to be a commercial successes.
McGovern said: “A lot of people love the idea of [the previous Defender], but they never buy one.
“While I'm a designer, and I love designing, I'm also a businessman. We need to build a critical mass in order to sustain ourselves in the long term and reinvest.”
In order to appeal to more people, it’s expected that the new Defender will be slightly diluted from its original design, ditching some of the hardiness in favour of a slightly more accessible style.
However, despite numerous Defender concepts having been released in recent years, McGovern is quick to note that the production model will look nothing like the modern concept ideas.
He said: “When this vehicle comes out, people will know it's a Defender, it's a modern Defender. But it will bear no resemblance to those Defender concepts.”
