Land Rover Has Big Plans For The Defender

The Land Rover nameis a legendary one, and noLand Roveris more special than theDefender. With a long history of off-roading excellence, the rugged, boxy Brit has become a household name for adventurers and military personnel alike. Over the years, we've seen a mostly traditional approach from the Defender, but the latest model is a lot more luxurious, and that has helped it achieveastonishing levels of success. Land Rover has recognized that this model is something of a cash cow, and earlier this year, we heard that athree-row modelcould be coming to broaden the Defender's appeal. That could still be in the cards, but there's more coming from the Defender, namely a more luxurious range-topper unlike anything currently available.

According toAutocar, Land Rover is looking into making the Defender its own nameplate with various different versions, one of which includes a pickup while another is a luxury range-topper based on the underpinnings of the forthcoming new Range Rover. Details are been few and far between, but as far as we know, Land Rover intends for this range-topper to ride on the new MLA platform, a flexible architecture that will underpin the next generation of Range Rover Sport, Velar, and Discovery models. This architecture has an electric bias and can be produced as a mild-hybrid, a plug-in hybrid, or an all-electric. It has also been designed to be "highly capable off-road", yet with exceptional on-road manners.