Land Rover plans to expand new Defender lineup

KUALA LUMPUR: The British premium automaker, Land Rover is planning to add additional trims to expand the new Defender lineup. The brand aims for a five-door entry-level model, which will come with a price tag of around £25,000 (RM137,015) in the United Kingdom, which is significantly affordable compared to the £45,240 (RM233,612) that one needs to pay for the Defender 110, which was launched in September.

The upcoming base variant of the Defender is assumed to hold the model code L860   and is expected to make its official debut in the year 2021. According to the reports, it will get its own name, and a distinct badge could be used with something along with the marks of ‘Land Rover 80’, which signifies the original Series 1 model’s wheelbase length.

The reports also stated that the L860 is the carmaker’s third attempt in recent years in order to defend the business case for a variant to rival against popular compact SUVs such as Volkswagen Tiguan, Mini Countryman, Volvo XC40 and BMW X1.

This is supported by the fact that the popularity of mid-sized SUV in Europe is growing significantly with an annual sales of over 500,000 units. The reports, however, also suggest that L860 will not be sold in the European market.

The model is expected to run on a platform that the brand calls the D10 and which the parent brand, Tata calls the Optimal Modular Efficient Global Advanced Architecture.

It is a modernized and cost-effective variant of Land Rover’s D8 platform, which supported the first Land Rover Discovery Sport and the previous Range Rover Evoque. In addition to that, the Tata Harrier in the Indian market uses the same platform.

At the other end, Landrover is also developing a more luxurious version of the Defender, and it can take up to four years to reveal it. The model can make its debut as a pure EV with more premium interiors, and the reports state that the price tag can be ‘well into six figures’.

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