Defender series set for 2019 return

Yochanaan Coetzee - When the Defender Series was discontinued last year, the world wept as the iconic British explorer rode off into posterity, leaving behind an oil trail and millions in dire anticipation of what the future would hold for their beloved bundu-bashing, continent-crossing personification of British safari-ready sensibility.

The news of Land Rover setting 2019 as the year in which the Defender would be reborn could have only been dampened by the somewhat ill-received DC100 Concept that was unveiled at the 2011 Frankfurt Auto Show, which, other than hinting at a sexy little convertible a la Evoque, irked purists with a somewhat dinky-looking front end.

Thankfully, JLR design guru, Gerry Mcgovern, prompted by the public reaction, announced this was only the start of a long journey to developing the successor to brand-bolstering Defender, which, by the way, was last redesigned 30 years ago.

Fast forward to 2017: With an onslaught of premium Land Rovers out they’ve reclaimed the luxury-SUV segment, but desperately need the rugged charms and brand legitimacy that only the Defender can offer if they want to save the brand from becoming more about prefect hair and designer coffee rather than being hardy and hearty with a healthy affinity for epic story-inducing safari scratches.

At the launch of the All-New Discovery in Windhoek last week, Jaguar Land Rover Windhoek Dealer Principal, Albert Pretorius, confirmed that we will be seeing a “family” of Defender models locally in 2019 and says that from what he's heard, it won’t let us down.

“We believe it will not only live up to the previous Defender’s legacy, but forge a new path, much like the Series I did in 1948.”

It’s believed the Defender will also benefit from Land Rover’s homogenous approach by receiving an aluminium monocoque architecture and many components from other models in the range.

While we know that we can expect them to be available in 90, 110, 130 Series models, meaning a two-door, a seven-seater and a pick-up, as well as the funky-looking two-seat convertible concept they showed off in Frankfurt. Which was too popular not to put in production and shares some similarities with the Evoque Convertible.

There have also been rumblings of a high-performance SVR version, a hardcore off-road SVX and everything in between. The SVR would go up against the G63 AMG, and will undoubtedly be exceedingly popular in the bling and ever so brash markets in Russia, China and yes, Namibia.

While purists hope to be won back by a terra firma-taming Defender as those from days of yore, they’ll have to accept Land Rover’s general move towards refinement. Having said that, they can be cautiously aware that the new Defender cannot go soft, because it’s one of the products that give the Land Rover brand the equity to sell thousands of Range Rovers, Discoveries and the sort.

And so we wait...