The UK automotive blogs were all abuzz last week with images of a number of different Land Rover prototypes out on test, wrapped in the usual dazzle camouflage. The Land Rover product line is expanding so fast and models getting updated so frequently that even as a blog writer tasked with reporting on this very sort of news, the spy shot stories have started to get boring. So much so that I nearly missed this one.
Apparently, one of the protos out on trial has been speculated to be a test mule for the much anticipated replacement Defender. Much of the reporting focuses on the body shape, and how it in no way whatsoever resembles the old Defender.
My take on it, and perhaps I am being naive here, is that the body shape is not representative of what they'll actually look like. It looks to me like they took a bunch of panels out of the Discovery Sport scrap bin and screwed them onto a different chassis.
So, I'll take the photos at face value and the word of the reporters that claim to know from the minimal details visible that this is indeed the Defender chassis at least. But I refuse to believe that they would even allow the body to be seen this early on. They've gone to great lengths to protect the design from copycats, clearly stating in the press that they aren't releasing any concept sketches. If this is the body shape to be, then the cat's already out of the bag. Though, I'm not sure why anyone would want to copy it. Anyone with eyes, that is.
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