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Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover
Interesting Info About All Things Land Rover

Will We See an Electric Defender by 2025?

  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Jan 6, 2023
A defender plugged in to an electrical charger.

Land Rover is rumored to be preparing for an all-electric Defender in 2025. Here's what we know...

The Defender is currently built on the D7 platform, which also underpinned the fourth-generation Range Rover, second-generation Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar, and Discovery 5. It was the last vehicle to come out on that platform, and pre-launch speculation suggested that it was going to be built on the newer Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform, which debuted on the 2023 Range Rover. However, it ended up on the old D7 platform, an almost-all-aluminum structure that was modified and strengthened further for Defender.

With a new Discovery also in the works, it sounds like the end is near for D7, as Land Rover works so heavily with having mechanical crossover between models. The Defender is the only model on the platform that's relatively early in its product cycle (though it's already in its fourth model year), and the design has become a bit of a modern icon already. With the Defender a bestseller and a formula that works, it’s likely that any move from D7 to MLA won’t result in a major change to the vehicle’s aesthetics. Perhaps the best comparison to the likely result of an updated Defender would be the Discovery Series II, which was a re-engineering of the Discovery 1 without making major changes to the exterior or interior styling.

With MLA will come the full range of powertrain options that the platform allows. In the full-size Range Rover, there are options ranging from a V8 to an all-electric plug-in. Thus, a switch to the MLA platform would mean an all-electric Defender would be a possibility, and with the market shifting partially to battery-electric vehicles (BEVs), this is an obvious step to remain competitive.

Though there are obviously no details on a vehicle that isn't formally announced, a shift to the Range Rover platform would probably mean a Defender with the all-electric Range Rover's specs. The rumors about the new Range Rover have it with at least one electric motor on each axle, a 300-mile range, and 600-plus horsepower. Though the power may be slightly lower in the Defender to keep the Range Rover at its top-performance rank, a long range will be essential for a vehicle in Defender's market space.

All is still to be announced and seen, but Jaguar Land Rover is leaning heavily into electrification in the second half of the decade, and their top-seller Defender is definitely coming along for the ride. Although there will likely be an all-electric variant, Land Rover has also said they intend to offer a diverse lineup of powertrain options on most vehicles, so an internal combustion Defender is still almost certainly going to be an option alongside a full EV and plug-in hybrid.

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  • Written By
  • Greg Fitzgerald
  • Adventure addict. '90s Land Rover daily driver. Historic preservationist. Personal vehicles: 1994 Discovery I, 1994 Range Rover Classic, 1961 Series II 109", 2005 LR3.
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