 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > Latest News 01/03/10 |
 
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| AndrewS Member Since: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Hereford Posts: 3707   
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http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsArticle/...er/247844/
Land Rover has started work on its replacement to the iconic 62-year-old Defender. The British firm has formally been working on the Defender replacement, known internally as Project Icon, for two weeks after parent company Tata Motors signed off funds for a full engineering and design programme for the car. Project Icon has therefore been granted a place in Land Rover’s product cycle and is due to be launched in 2014. At this stage, Land Rover is working out the positioning of the car and how it will be marketed. After successfully reinventing the Range Rover brand with new Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Range Rover LRX models, Land Rover is turning its attentions to sorting out the positioning and model line-up of its core off-roader range. Land Rover insiders have admitted the brand needs a greater clarity and some customers find its current model line-up confusing. The Land Rover marque will be reinvented with Project Icon, a car that may not last 60-years, but will be the company’s flagship for at least the next 20. Project Icon is unlikely to take the Defender name for production, although many of that car’s looks and values could be carried over to the new model. The car had previously been tipped be underpinned by the firm’s T5 steel platform chassis. Although capable, Land Rover feels it will be too heavy going forward in the future. Land Rover’s Electric Rear Axle Drive (ERAD) technology, which it displayed in a Freelander in 2008, could make production in Project Icon to help improve economy and reduce emissions. |
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1st Mar 2010 8:34pm |
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| alantd Member Since: 14 Dec 2008 Location: Northamptonshire Posts: 1513 
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 hmm 2014. Add a year's delay, add 2 for soak testing all the teething troubles and mine will be 10 years old. 
Perfect. I'll have just about finished spec'ing it up by then. Maybe I'll just get one of the last Defenders before they cease production or maybe I'll keep mine.  One that started out as a 2.4 TDCi 110 XS
+ New Defender 110 First Edition |
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2nd Mar 2010 8:13am |
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| Higgers Member Since: 08 Apr 2009 Location: Cheshire Posts: 668 
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Was told by a reliable source that the new vehicle will share a common chassis with the D4 replacement, so not the T5 chassis.
Going towards lighter for the D5 or whatever it will be called, with the new defender sitting on the same chassis, possibly why its slipped to 2014...... |
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9th Mar 2010 9:38am |
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| AndrewS Member Since: 10 Apr 2007 Location: Hereford Posts: 3707
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Looks like it maybe a Green Hybrid
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9th Mar 2010 4:35pm |
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| discocuzzy Member Since: 16 Jul 2008 Location: surrey Posts: 1200 
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Im just going to keep mine.....once out of warranty i may look around for a TDV6 converstion if one is reliable enough and doesnt cost the earth! You cannot teach stupid people to do clever things
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9th Mar 2010 7:02pm |
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| Higgers Member Since: 08 Apr 2009 Location: Cheshire Posts: 668
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What ever Steve, thats until something new and shiney comes out and Matt takes you shopping with a hangover again. |
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9th Mar 2010 7:07pm |
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| Sonic3d Member Since: 28 Jan 2008 Location: Ross on Wye Posts: 1505 
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Is there a better way of shopping than that |
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10th Mar 2010 4:12pm |
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| spudfan Member Since: 10 Sep 2007 Location: Co Donegal Posts: 4646 
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Just been going through some sales brochures for the 90/110 and later Defender,which date from 1987 up to the present. In all of them Land Rover are at pains to point out the benefits of the box section chassis to the Land Rover. Indeed they are happy to point out how their chassis is better than that used by other manufacturers. Some of the brochures have a two page spread on the chassis and it's benefits to the Land Rover. Seems a little ironic that all the pointers indicate that the proposed replacement for the Defender will not have one. No doubt the sales brochures will inform us as to how this is a benefit. I also noticed that up to the brochures for the Defender, the brochures for the 90/110 featured all commercial Land Rovers. Farmers in hardtops, engineers in the back of a 110 hicapacity pick up, pick ups with bales of hay in them etc,etc. There was a seperate brochure for the county models, which also laid great emphasis on the strength etc. of the chassis as the basis for the vehicle. Even the brochure for the Puma Tdci Defender lays great emphasis on the chassis and it's benefits to the vehicle. Unlike earlier brochures the emphasis on hardtops, pickups etc is replaced with passenger aimed vehicles. How things have changed from my 1990 turbo diesel hardtop to my current Puma Tdci 110 station wagon! Anyway if the chassis does go I for one will miss it. Nodoubt there will be literature aplenty to tell me why this is beneficial to me. When the coil sprung 110 came on the scene some people thought that the series 111 was the last real Land Rover. Will some of us say the same about the Puma and it's chassis? 1982 88" 2.25 diesel
1992 110 200tdi csw -Zikali 2008 110 2.4 tdci csw-Zulu 2011 110 2.4 tdci csw-Masai |
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21st Mar 2010 8:56pm |
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| mse Member Since: 06 Apr 2008 Location: UK Posts: 5035 
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Current suggestions in the LRO mag include 3 sizes, starting at 100", 3 engine options including the TDv6 and the Electronic rear drive, onboard diagnostics, plastic wings etc Mike
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21st Mar 2010 10:25pm |
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| BigWheels Member Since: 21 Mar 2010 Location: Somerset Posts: 1405 
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May LROI has an article on it. A "hybrid" generally sharing the same (min 100) chassis with Disco 4 & RR.
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25th Mar 2010 12:38pm |
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