According to John Edwards, global brand director at Land Rover, the British automaker has serious plans to replace the actual Defender and he explains that the new model should make its debut in 3 years time.
It is believed that Tata, the Indian company that owns Land Rover, will invest a huge amount of money in the development of the new model. The body styles will vary from station wagons to pick-up trucks, with the first Defender due to make its first public appearance in 2015.
The British automaker is trying to develop a strategy for the new Defender project in close collaboration with its engineering, design and marketing divisions which will decide the number and versions, as well as the sales volume, of the new model. With 18,000 Defenders sold last year, the huge investment that Tata is planning to make in the project will have results, according to a market research programme, and Land Rover expects to improve the sales level of the Defender once the new model makes it debut.
The SUV segment is classified in three separate categories which are luxury, leisure and utility. Worldwide, 3.25 million utility SUVs are sold and the figure should increase by 25 % until 2017. Furthermore, globally, the luxury SUV segment is set to increase by 35% until 2017, as it now sells in about 2 million units each year. Finally, the leisure SUV sector has sold 8 million units in 2010.
Land Rover will make all the necessary efforts in order to re-establish itself on markets such as Africa and Australia, where Toyota’s Land Cruiser is at the moment the vehicle of choice.
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