Land Rover Defender Concept

Defender Concept

Before there was the Range Rover, Discovery or Evoque, the was one Land Rover, which came to be known as the Defender. John Edwards, Global Brand Director at Land Rover added: "The Defender is loved all over the world for its simple, honest and distinctive design. The Land Rover DC100 concept builds upon the essential elements of the car’s character and allows Land Rover to open the debate and inspire people to dream about the Defenders of the future.

Land Rover is debuting a Defender-esqe concept car at the Frankfurt Auto show. (We're not sure exactly what the DC100 stands for, maybe Defender Concept, cause we're tired of hearing "when is the Defender coming back?" a 100 times a day.)

The concept looks stubby and tough. The previous style Defender was dropped from Rover's US line up after fuel economy and safety regulations (as in no air bags) deemed it untellable here.

This is the radical all-new look for the classic Land Rover Defender.

"Replacing the iconic Defender is one of the biggest challenges in the automotive design world; it is a car that inspires people worldwide," says Land Rover design boss, Gerry McGovern.

"This isn't a production-ready concept but the beginning of a four-year journey to design a relevant Defender for the 21st century."

Although the Defender is one of the motoring world's most famous vehicles Land Rover only sells approximately 20,000 units annually around the world.

"Loved the world over for its simple, honest and distinctive design, we are determined that the new Defender will be true to its heritage, while meeting the requirements of a changing global market," says John Edwards, Land Rover's Global Brand Director.

The engineering team behind the Defender is headed by Australian ex-pat Murray Dietsch, who worked on the Ford Territory. "We've been working on Defender for a while," Dietsch said recently. "The company's pretty serious about it.