New Land Rover Concept at Frankfurt – Project Icon lives?

New Land Rover Defender Concept expected at Frankfurt

Last week AE ran a report that suggested Land Rover were considering dumping the iconic Defender from their range as it was perhaps too difficult to find a cost-effective way to update it. Which we didn’t buy for a minute.

As far as we can see, the Land Rover Defender is so iconic that Tata would have to find a way to keep it viable and in production even if they lost money on every Defender they built.

The halo that comes off the back of the Defender’s abilities coats Land Rover’s luxury SUVs with a veneer of uncompromised ability to tackle any terrain, despite their Bentley-esque trim and toys. Endless money and all the PR bow-locks in the world can’t compete with that.

So the news today from Inside Line that Land Rover are to take a new Defender Concept to Frankfurt in September rings true to us, especially as we reported on ‘Project Icon’ – the next Defender – back in 2009, when we said we believed the new Defender would arrive in 2012.

IL think that Land Rover may develop a new platform for the new Defender, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense to us. It seems far more likely that LR will make use of the T5 twin rail steel chassis from the Discovery, a perfect starting point for a revitalised Defender.

A revitalised Defender which will surely be evolutionary in appearance rather than trying to re-invent an icon. The new Defender should be a 21st century workhorse under the skin but be immediately identifiable as the keeper of  Land Rover’s heritage.

With Land Rover’s latest 3.0 litre diesel lumps – which can be tuned to give 550lbs/ft of torque – and the Discovery chassis, the new Defender should be immensely able and far more versatile than the current Defender.

We could even see a 5.0 litre Supercharged luxury version to show the G55 a thing or two.

By Cars UK