- Land Rover's corporate parent Tata wants to build the next-generation Defender — long a British icon — near its headquarters in India.
- Knocked-down kits could be shipped from India back to the U.K. for final assembly.
- The 2015 Defender is expected to borrow heavily from the design of the recent DC100 concepts.
LONDON — Land Rover's corporate parent Tata wants to build the next-generation Defender — long a British icon — near its headquarters in India.
In an interview with Britain's Autocar magazine, CEO Ratan Tata said the company also could ship knocked-down kits from India back to the U.K. for final assembly.
The redesigned 2015 Defender is expected to borrow heavily from the design of Land Rover's DC100 concepts, which were unveiled last fall at the Frankfurt auto show.
Autocar said the company has decided to build the new Defender on a version of its T5 ladder chassis, which underpins the Range Rover Sport and the Discovery/LR4.
Tata wants to build the Defender in India partly to lower manufacturing costs and because the vehicle likely will be well received in Asia.
Land Rover already assembles some versions of the smaller Freelander (LR4) in India for sale in Asian markets.
Inside Line says: Land Rovers in India, Volvos in China — get used to the new globalization trends in the auto industry.
Add A Comment »
kkear3 says:
10:49 AM, 01/27/2012
Looks like a Nissan Cube for lipstick lesbians. Not that there is anything wrong with that. Just sayin'...
fandiesel says:
06:35 AM, 01/27/2012
IT's called LAND ROVER going SOFT ! But that's where the sales are, "street driving" !
mau19 says:
07:15 PM, 01/26/2012
Awesome I love the defender! Land Rovers of recent have lost their rugged roots.
vhorizon says:
04:48 PM, 01/26/2012
ed341
I do not have extensive knowledge of rand rovers. My last range rover spent more time in the dealer's service department than in my hand so I didn't get to know very much.
angry_mushroom says:
04:29 PM, 01/26/2012
Who cares how it looks... Question is can I fix it with a hammer?
urbanxj says:
04:20 PM, 01/26/2012
What a disgusting looking piece of crap.
theinsurgent says:
01:42 PM, 01/26/2012
If it can be had for low 20K price, I'll be interested.
thaitanium15 says:
12:06 PM, 01/26/2012
Personally, the original design is both tough and classic and I prefer it to the DC100 concept. Land Rover should have maintained more of the original design.
hotrodw says:
11:49 AM, 01/26/2012
madarchitect says:
"Forget reliability for now and lets focus on how ugly and feminine this thing is."
Sorry, but I'm not seeing the "feminine" to which you're referring. And ugly is a subjective term. Besides, people don't buy this thing for its appearance. Just take a good look at the original.
madarchitect says:
11:16 AM, 01/26/2012
Forget reliability for now and lets focus on how ugly and feminine this thing is.
What an insult to the heritage of this brand.