Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has announced that it will produce a ‘Baby Defender’ model at its Halewood plant in north west England. The fully electric vehicle is expected to reach the market by 2027, the Liverpool Echo reports.
JLR has been enjoying a surge in revenue recently, reporting a quarterly sum of £6.9bn for the three months up to June. This represents a 57% increase from the same period last year.
JLR has recently rebranded itself with a new abbreviated name and minimalist logo. However, it is maintaining the legacy brands of Range Rover and Land Rover. The group said its higher profits were helped by “favourable volume, mix, pricing and foreign exchange revaluation offset partially by higher inflation and supplier claims”.
The Defender model was first launched in 1983, although it didn’t acquire the name Defender until 1990. Its winning combination of rugged stylish good looks and impressive off-road capabilities have made it a global hit. It was officially retired in 2016, before being successfully relaunched in 2020.
The highly anticipated new ‘Baby Defender’ has been in the pipeline for several years, and will be a key part of JLR’s new family of all-electric vehicles. According to Autocar, the new model will be a similar size to the Skoda Kodiaq, at around 4.6m long, 2m wide, and 1.8m tall.
JLR’s marketing director, Anthony Bradbury, told the publication: “It’s an explorer’s vehicle, it’s always pushed boundaries, it’s always physically allowed you to do things no other vehicle can. It’s about that spirit of embracing the impossible, and it has been like that for 75 years.”
Motoring industry commentators have welcomed the news of a more compact Range Rover, in an era when a modern city car such as a Mini or a Fiat 500 are larger than the original Land Rover model. The current full size Defender model can be difficult to navigate around suburban streets and carparks.
The new baby Defender will also be more affordable than the full size model, putting the high end vehicle within reach of potentially thousands more customers. It will be a more ‘road focussed’ car that will remain competitive in the field of midsize SUVs.
The batteries will be supplied by the Tata group gigafactory that is set to be built in Somerset at a cost of £4bn.
It is believed that Tata received significant government incentives to invest in the UK, including reduced rate energy costs. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Tata Group’s multi-billion-pound investment in a new battery factory in the UK is testament to the strength of our car manufacturing industry and its skilled workers.”
The Halewood plant in Merseyside where the Baby Defender will be manufactured is set to become all-electric, and is currently undergoing a £15bn transformation to bring it up to necessary standards.
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