Mar 5, 2017

Off-road fans relish Land Rover Defender’s return

When Jaguar Land Rover's brand new Discovery car became stuck in a patch of wet sand in the desert of Utah during a test drive, there was only one solution - an old Defender was wheeled out to tow the vehicle from the dirt. The Land Rover Defender is now generating excitement among the cognoscenti of the off-road car market as they anticipate the expected return of the vehicle in 2019. Chief executive Ralf Speth says: "It was the saddest moment in my life to be the guy who stopped the Defender line. I am a fan, and the Defender is an icon, but at the end of the day there was no other choice." During its 68 years of production, the Defender, which was originally just called the Land Rover until renamed in 1990, generated a reputation as a workhorse able to tackle just about any terrain imaginable. Robin Zhu, a car analyst at Bernstein, says: "They're obsessed with bringing the Defender back, given what it means for the brand and how iconic the last one was. As a fan of the brand I'm quite looking forward to it. But as an autos analyst covering their stock, my excitement levels are far lower."

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