Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) continues to work on its electrification strategy, and it seems certain that the next generation of the Defender will feature an electric version.
The confirmation came from JLR’s Chief Operating Officer, Lennard Hoornik, who, in an interview with the British “Autocar”, confirmed that the electrification of the Defender will only happen based on a new platform, as in the current architecture, D7x, “it is not easy to find the extra space needed within the chassis for the batteries, due to the space and capacity that the current model requires in its current configuration,” said Lennard Hoornik.
Although the Defender already has a plug-in hybrid variant, the JLR official reminded that, likely by the end of the decade, the well-known British SUV will have a 100% electric version.
“We said we would make an electric production model for each of our brands, and we remain committed to that”, Hoornik continued. “But finding space on the current Defender platform is very difficult, so we will need to use something different.”
However, the JLR Chief Operating Officer did not confirm whether the next generation of the Defender will feature a range entirely equipped with a new platform, or if the new architecture will only be used for an electric variant. What seems certain, based on the words of the JLR official, is that the electric Defender will be an important step for the brand.
“A 100% electric model will have to represent a significant step forward in the evolution of the Defender”, concluded Lennard Hoornik.
