The Land Rover Defender line had traditionally offered a pickup truck body style, and one may appear in the latest generation as well, Executive Director Vehicle Programmes Nick Collins said.
According to him, despite the fact that the new Defender is a unitized vehicle rather than a body-on-frame SUV, building a pickup on its basis poses no particular challenges. Furthermore, the market is actually quite interested in such vehicles. This, and the fact that the new Defender had been envisioned as a whole family of vehicles from the very start, makes it likely that the truck-shaped Defender hits the showrooms at one time or another. It will not be soon, but the company is on the lookout for opportunities, Collins said.
The newcomer will slot in the Hard Top line of commercial vehicles and will likely come based on the stretched Defender 110 and 130 variants (you can find the former in our gallery and the video here; the latter has not debuted yet).
Land Rover’s plans until 2024 include launching six new electric car models. If the truck makes it into the electric crowd, it will have to compete against the likes of the Bollinger B2, GMC Hummer EV, Lordstown Endurance, Rivian R1T, and Tesla Cybertruck. Its ICE-powered counterpart can expect much more competition than that.
