The move to introduce new Defender models is reflective of JLR’s ambition to separate each of its core brands – Jaguar, Discovery, Range Rover and Defender – into four distinct product lines.
As part of this separation, which comes under the brand’s so-called ‘House of Brands’ retail strategy, the Defender strapline will be ‘embrace the impossible’, in a nod to the original car’s storied off-road heritage.
Speaking recently to Autocar, JLR’s marketing director, Anthony Bradbury, said: “It’s an explorer’s vehicle, it’s always pushed boundaries, it’s always physically allowed you to do things no other vehicle can. It’s about that spirit of embracing the impossible, and it has been like that for 75 years.”
Defender-badged cars, he said, must have “that feeling of activation, of doing”. Even the smallest entrant into the family will embody the rugged, go-anywhere ethos that made the Defender a household name.
Squared-off lower quarters, purposeful body cladding and bluff, simple panels are likely to be employed both to draw a link with the full-size car and enhance the crossover’s off-roading credentials.
Even despite its inherently more road-focused billing, an expansive suite of outdoors-themed add-ons is likely to be available. Recent updates on the EMA platform suggest it is a ‘simple’ structure engineered to accommodate the advanced battery and propulsion technology needed to make it competitive against an increasingly crowded field of mid-sized SUVs.