Latest Defender concepts shown

Thursday, January 05, 2012

The new Land Rover Defender DC100 concepts have made their Indian debut at the Delhi motor show, complete with a new red paint job. Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern told Autocar that the decision to paint both the DC100 and DC100 Sport the same colour was to make people understand how closely related the pair are and how flexible and versatile the new Defender can be, like the old one.

McGovern added that most criticism of the DC100 Sport concept had focused on people believing it was too different to the hard-top DC100, when in essence it is the same car without a roof. Hence the decision was taken to paint both cars the same colour for Delhi.

See the pics of the latest Land Rover Defender concepts

Meanwhile, the new Defender could be in production for 20-years, around three times the life of a mainstream car, reckons brand boss John Edwards. The semi-utility nature of the Defender and the long life of the current model are reckoned to make this long life the valid way of justifying the investment and evolving the programme. It also makes the project easier to understand and manage, reckons Edwards, not least because 'we can't launch all the models at once.'

That comment also backs up earlier suggestions that today's Defender will live on in certain versions, possibly to 2017, to bridge the gap while LR rolls-out variants of the new model. Edwards also says that the process of revealing the DC100 concepts for the new design 'has reinforced my confidence that we can develop a whole family of models'.

So far LR has shown four variations on the DC100 design, all based on a 100inch wheelbase viewed as a replacement for today's 90inch wheelbase model. LR has yet to reveal a long wheelbase model equivalent to today's 110inch or the high-capacity 130inch commercial chassis.

Edwards says that the four concepts have broadly been well received; some critics have questioned the new design's repairability. "But there are things we can do to make it easier to maintain,' counters Edwards.

Steve Cropley / Richard Bremner

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