The BBC also had the story but I'm not linking to them because I'm still really annoyed at the way they are not responding to the flood of complaints about their dirty deal with Murdoch over the F1 rights.
Here's a picture of the DC100:
This is still just a concept but is a clue as to what the Defender replacement will look like when it goes into production in 2015.
It's a hard act to follow:
but I like what they've done so far.
The current Defender isn't selling brilliantly at the moment but I bet any run-out editions will do well. It still has a certain coolness - Richard Hammond has a couple for example - but the old design is expensive to build and poor reliability (which has affected the entire L-R range for quite a while) has led the Toyota Land-Cruiser to easily establish itself as the world-leader. I wonder where they got the idea for the name "Land-Cruiser" from?
The replacement will need to be reliable, tough, good off-road and, most of all, utilitarian. Definitely not trendy. This isn't one for Victoria Beckham to endorse, maybe Marilyn Monroe? Or, if you fancy someone a bit more alive, Rick Stein and the Dalai Lama are Landy fans
...and so is Ronan Keating (Ugh!)
I hope that isn't what the new Defender will look like. For a start, those huge alloy wheels with low profile tyres won't last 10 seconds off road.
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of 4X4s but I've always loved the utilitarian appeal of the Landie. However, like the original Beetle and Mini it is better in the imagination than the metal - this is still, essentially, a 1940's farmers' vehicle. Interestingly, our local out-of-hours doctors' service now use Toyotas.
Hopefully LR will keep it modular, make it easy to fix on the move - and vinyl seats on a real off-roader are a must!