Defenders coming on the double

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

New Land Rover owner Ford is looking at developing two replacement models of the four-wheel-drive icon, the rugged Defender.

One would be a traditional model aimed at military and agricultural applications, and the other a "softer" version for the popular lifestyle market.

The replacement for the traditional model is codenamed L50. A prototype was reportedly ready for trials many months before Ford bought Land Rover from BMW.

But BMW apparently had doubts about reworking a single Defender model for both military and lifestyle use, and put the dual-purpose project on hold.

But now, according to reports in Britain, the Defender is assured of a future. Land Rover chairman Bob Dover was reported as saying the company needed to do more to break into the fashionable lifestyle market.

The plan is to replace the Defender with two separate models that look alike but have different target markets.

The two would have different suspension systems. One would be underpinned by beam axles to deliver off-road ruggedness, while the other more luxurious model might use an independent A-frame wishbone setup developed by BMW for moderate off-road ability.

Whatever happens, the Defender will keep its rugged looks. Land Rover has long recognised it as an engineering project and always said it would be careful not to style it.

The new Defender will borrow, like its more luxurious stablemates Jaguar and Aston Martin, from the Ford parts bin. The four-wheel-drive specialist lost money in 1999, despite a record sales year, and Ford has said it wants it to be making money by 2002.