Rumor: Land Rover Working On Electric ‘Baby Defender’

Sean Tucker 08/10/2023 12:00am

The Land Rover Defender comes in many sizes these days. But the company reportedly believes there’s room for one more.

JLR (the company formerly known as Jaguar Land Rover) builds its rugged off-roader as the 2-door Defender 90, the 4-door Defender 110, and the stretched Defender 130 that’s so long it’s arguably a full-size SUV.

Now, the UK’s Autocar reports, a compact version is on the way. The so-called “baby Defender” will appear as “a sibling model to the next-generation Range Rover Evoque.” But, as befits the Defender name, it will focus on off-road prowess, the magazine reports.

It will be all-electric and “could adopt the Defender Sport moniker,” Autocar says.

Four Defenders may seem excessive, but it fits with the company’s reported strategy of breaking out the Defender nameplate into a separate lineup with its own showrooms.

Sean Tucker

Sean Tucker is the Managing Editor for Compact and Full-Size Vehicles at Kelley Blue Book. He has covered the intersection of the automotive, insurance, and energy industries for more than a quarter of a century. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, U.S. News and World Report, Yahoo Autos, MSN, and on CNN and the BBC. He believes in journalism as a service, whether reporting from Capitol Hill or evaluating a car from the track. He has degrees in philosophy and creative writing, and a habit of talking everyone into spending less on a car. He reports from Washington, D.C., where, if he’s not writing, you’ll find him on a hiking trail.
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