New Land Rover Defender May Spawn a Pickup
The next-generation Land Rover Defender is still fresh from the oven, but it appears the automaker is thinking about mixing up the recipe.
With strong interest in the model on both sides of the Atlantic, the luxurious off-road SUV may spawn a pickup in the near future, just like it did in the past.
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Not only is such a vehicle “technically possible,” Land Rover previously hinted, but as executive director of vehicle programs Nick Collins told Autocar, there is enough customer demand to justify developing a pickup in the not-too-distant future.
In his mind, there are no structural limitations to building an open-box Defender based on the new generation. While the vast majority of pickups use a body-on-frame architecture, it’s entirely possible to make one using a unibody structure. The award-winning Honda Ridgeline is certainly the best example. The upcoming Hyundai Santa Cruz is another.
“We always said the Defender would be a family,” Collins mentioned. And while talking about future plans should be “saved for another day”, fans should “watch this space” with regards to a pick-up.
If Land Rover does greenlight a Defender pickup, it would rival the likes of the Ford Ranger, Jeep Gladiator, Chevrolet Colorado and Toyota Tacoma, offering superior technology, refinement and off-road capability.
Autocar believes it will land exclusively as a four-door model with four-wheel drive. Depending on the market, either a gasoline- or a diesel-burning engine will reside under the hood—maybe even a plug-in hybrid system at some point.
What do you think?
