JACK DOBSON

IT has been a while since we were introduced to the new Defender and I still have not seen one. The other day, close to a dealership, I thought I might pop in for a quick look but Old Girl (my 109in IIA) decided to breakdown en route (a failed universal joint in the rear propshaft). Was my Land Rover trying to tell me something? Yes – remember to grease moving parts. I have been thinking a lot about the new Defender. The first image I saw was last year, a leaked image shared by popular Instagrammer, Mr @landroverphotoalbum. Though mindful it was missing its bonnet and not taken from a particularly flattering angle I was immediately disappointed by the styling. Where were the round headlights for goodness sake?!

We have of course all now seen lots of media featuring the new Defender and my disappointment has been reinforced. It does not retain any of the DNA of its predecessor. I have seen lots of images of the two parked side by side and were it not for the Defender badge I do not think any of us would draw a comparison.

Now, some of you might hit me with, ‘what about the alpine windows?!’ I don’t think that’s enough (there are allegedly other design nods but I have forgotten what they are). Let’s consider Ford, take a look at the Mustang and the Bronco. Styling-wise, both of these iconic models have been successfully re-imagined and updated. When I look at these models, their DNA is clear. I am not particularly a fan of Ford but when I saw the new Bronco I thought, that looks great and it compelled me to look back at the original Bronco and I started thinking, that looks pretty cool too. Does the new Defender make non-land Rover people look back at its forefather?

There will be people that say I am stuck in the past. I want to be clear, that is not the case. I am all for embracing change and with the current generation; Velar, Discovery and Range Rover I totally get the evolution – it has been well executed (apart from the rear end of the Disco). I appreciate the old Defender was outdated and it needed to change but it has now morphed into a model that is pretty much the same as the Discovery and Range Rover. There is nothing that really sets them apart (except maybe the price of a Range Rover). Where is the utility version? The one that you can load up with bags of cement and livestock? There’s the hard top version apparently (although this may not go on sale in Australia) but why is this not currently for sale? I think its absence shows how little JLR regards the utility aspect of the Defender.

When I lived in the UK ten years ago, Defenders were used by the likes of the National Trust, Environment Agency, farmers and electricity providers (and they looked brilliant). What are they now using? Who in Land Rover decided this part of the market was no longer relevant to the Defender?

Here’s what I think Land Rover should have done. They should have released this new model as the new Discovery (and not bothered with the current generation Discovery). The proper Defender replacement should have been at the ready the moment production of the old one ceased (if it wasn’t ready, then they should have kept the old one in production for longer). Straight off the bat, they should have offered 90, 110 and 130 wheelbases with hard top, station wagon, truck cab and soft top options.

Key design cues it should have carried over, or at least been considered, include: round headlights, absence of plastic exterior trim (certainly no plastic chequer plate), rear grab handles, vent flaps, removable door tops (how cool would that have been?), bonnet-mounted spare wheel, flat front end and option for a starter handle (that one just came to me).

I am no car designer but you hopefully get my gist. Wouldn’t it be nice if you looked at the new Defender and instantly thought ‘wow, they’ve done a really clever job of bringing it into the 21st century?’ Instead you get people saying things like, ‘it looks better in black’, or ‘with the steel wheels it looks much better’. It is as if people are having to make excuses for it.

Are we all familiar with ‘The Emperor’s New Clothes’, a folktale written by a Danish author about a vain emperor? The tale goes that two swindlers trick an emperor into commissioning a set of clothes that are only visible to competent and clever people. It is of course a ruse and there are no clothes. The emperor strolls through his city and, not wanting to look like fools his subjects all pretend they can see the clothes. It is only when a child remarks on their absence that the game is up. I think there are certainly parallels with the new Defender. Are you afraid to call it out for what it is?

“Wouldn’t it be nice if you looked at the new Defender and instantly thought ‘wow, they’ve done a really clever job of bringing it into the 21st century?’”