The Land Rover Defender is a rare member of that uber-echelon of cars that are truly untouchable. Along with icons like the Porsche 911 and the Jaguar E-Type, the nameplate has gained an almost mythical status. Many devotees would sooner have you slander their own Mother before speaking a bad word of the Defender.
Since the unavoidable creep of emissions and crash safety standards forced production to end in 2015, rumours have swirled of a new Defender – the first completely new car in the model’s near seventy-year life span. Bearing in mind that the 1948 Land Rover and the 2015 Defender still had a handful of interchangeable parts, and you can understand that this is big news.
Land Rover even went as far as showing a concept version in 2011, but the rumours are only just now reaching fever pitch with the supposedly confirmed reports that the new Defender will arrive next year, as a 2019 model.
Well, it’s not exactly a rumour. JLR executive Dr Ralf Speth has publicly stated that development mules are undergoing testing, and photos have just recently surfaced of these mules being driven on public roads. Throw in that next year, 2018, marks the 70th anniversary of Land Rover, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to see where this is heading.
It poses the question – what will happen to the values of the more than 2 million Land Rover Series and Defenders built since 1948?
Residual values of Defenders in general have typically been rock-solid, and by nature they tend to avoid the massive depreciation that afflicts most new cars. Demand quickly exceeded supply once the end of production was announced, which saw a sharp increase in the values of clean, late model Defenders. Special editions, such as the end-of-the-line Heritage Editions, became particularly valuable.
In terms of the later model cars, the various limited editions and cars that haven’t had a tough working life on farms seem to be showing stability, if not minor growth. It’s anyone’s guess as to if the hype surrounding both the new Defender and the company’s 70th Anniversary next year will positively affect values, but it surely won’t hurt them.
The new Defender is reported to be even more capable off-road than its legendary predecessor, but it will undoubtedly follow JLR’s branding strategy of targeting the premium lifestyle market. It won’t be competing with the likes of the Toyota Hilux for the hard-earned pounds of farmers and rural workers. Instead, it will likely pursue the same customers as Mercedes-Benz does with their G-Wagen, and this is sure to alienate many of the hard-core Defender disciples out there.
If there ever was a time to justify buying an example of the quintessentially British off-roader, it’s probably now.
The example in our pictures, currently available through The Market, is a 2008 build limited edition SVX model, built to celebrate the brand’s 60th anniversary. Over the standard Defender of the time, it features subtle matte-black graphics on the gloss black paintwork, an external roll cage, suspension tweaks, unique front grilles and painted light surrounds, heated Recaro front seats, and SVX badging. It was delivered new to Hong Kong, and as such is quite a rare car in the UK – the 110 SVX’s were never sold here.
Given how the new L663 Defender will almost certainly depart from its farm-truck roots, and how the 70th Anniversary celebrations next year will undoubtedly be extensive, this could be just the time to get behind the wheel of a Defender.
