Land Rover Defender - Replacement

Replacement

Replacing the Defender with a new model has been in the planning stages for many years. The current Defender has been in production since 1991. It has not met U.S. safety requirements since 1998 and since then Land Rover has been offering U.S. buyers the more luxurious LR2 (Freelander) and LR4 (Discovery) instead. Total replacement will be needed by 2015, when new European regulations regarding crash safety for pedestrians will render the current design obsolete.

Concept vehicles DC100 and DC100 Sport, on which the replacement is intended to be based, were revealed at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show. DC100 is a conventional three-door off-roader with 2.0L turbo-charged diesel engine and DC100 Sport is a two-passenger pick-up with 2.0 L petrol engine. Unlike current Defender with 93-inch, 110-inch and 130-inch wheelbases, DC100 was presented in 100-inch wheelbase (DC100 = Defender Concept 100" wheelbase).

It is intended that the new vehicle will be in production by 2015, and will replace the then 25-year-old model which is the longest running production of any Land Rover vehicle. Land Rover is planning 60,000 - 80,000 units annually which would beat the 1970 record of between 55,000 and 60,000.

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