'Baby Defender' to join JLR's compact off-roader line-up

CEO confirms sign-off of long-awaited 4x4; Defender Sport name likely, due in 2027

- FELIX PAGE

Land Rover has given the green light to its long-mooted and highly anticipated "baby Defender' programme, which will take the 4x4 brand boldly into a new segment to face a whole new field of rivals.

The rugged, compact 4x4 is rumoured to have been on the cards for several years but has never officially appeared on JLR's product roadmap presentations. However, it is now finally inbound as a sibling model to the next-generation Range Rover Evoque, Velar and Land Rover Discovery Sport, and it will share with them the company's new EMA electric vehicle platform.

The move to expand the Defender family into the compact 4x4 segment was confirmed at JLR's recent investor conference by CEO Adrian Mardell, who said the "Range Rover, Defender and Discovery brands will come off that platform". The revelation shed further light on the mysterious fourth model line due to be built alongside the three electric SUVs, which are new-generation variants of current models, at the firm's Halewood factory.

Mardell gave no further details, but the confirmation that the smaller Defender will use the electric-only EMA architecture reveals much about the new model. It could adopt the Defender Sport moniker, in keeping with the more road-focused versions of the Discovery and Range Rover, and arrive in dealerships as soon as 2027.

Most importantly, it will be much more compact in all dimensions compared with its full-size namesake, today's combustion engine-powered 'L663' Defender. That car uses a variation of the D7 platform that also underpins the Discovery, but the promised electric variant, which is due in around 2026, will use the MLA structure from combustion-engined and future electric variants of the Range Rover.