Opinion: can the new Defender help turn around Jaguar Land Rover?

The Defender’s brief is to mix ‘off-road expertise’ with ‘practicality, functionality and durability’. A quarter of a century after Ford kicked things off with the Aston Martin DB7, the Defender is perhaps the last of a long line of great British automotive revivals on which much hope is placed. Sources have said the styling of the new car references the original model but it is a long way from a slavish copy. Prices will start at £40,000 and it’s the first model based on JLR’s all-new MLA aluminium platform. So far, so good. 

But there must also be risks with an entirely new retro-facing family of vehicles, sales of which are likely to have been pencilled in for 100,000 units per year by 2022. 

Firstly, the original Defender was never durable in the way that Toyota’s Land Cruiser is known for. Will serious off-road drivers be tempted to make the switch? 

Will those ‘adventure-minded’ families who have been less than impressed with the Discovery 5 (currently the smallest-selling LR model) switch to the new Defender instead? And will another family of vehicles prove a step too far for a smallish car maker which already has 13 different model families? 

If, as expected, Defender production is destined for JLR’s new Slovakian factory, there is likely to be a considerable row in the West Midlands. Castle Bromwich is running at less than 60% capacity, job losses look likely and, adding insult to injury, the E-Pace and I-Pace are also made abroad.