Land Rover Going Soft-Roader with Next Defender and Dropping Freelander Name

Land RoverLand RoverUnited Kingdom, 1978 > present15 models
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intends to make major changes for its next generation of trucks. Plans for the next generation DefenderLand Rover Defender Gen.1United Kingdom, 1983 > present122 versions
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to continue to be a hardcore off-roader have been scrapped, and the next generation will be more of a soft roader like the EvoqueLand Rover Range Rover EvoqueUnited Kingdom, 2011 > present128 versions
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. The FreelanderLand Rover Freelander Gen.2United Kingdom, 2007 > present65 versions
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name will be dropped in Europe in favor of the car being a variant of the Discovery. In the future, Land Rover will be defined by three vehicle lines - Defender, Discovery and Range RoverLand Rover Range Rover Gen.1 [Classic]United Kingdom, 1970 > 19959 versions
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.

Land Rover had previously planned to make the next generation Defender a new generation of the brand's hardcore off-road machine, but Land Rover brand manager John Edwards says that those plans have been scrapped because safety legislation has made cars like the Defender a near impossibility. Instead, the Defender name will live on as a high style soft-roader that was previewed in the DC100Land Rover DC100United Kingdom, 2011 > 20119 photos
concept. 

The next Defender will move upmarket in terms of interior luxury and be built on the PLA platform that is underpinning most of the new Land Rovers. It will have an all aluminum body and may have an aluminum chassis as well. 

The new car is scheduled to go on sale in 2015. 

For the end of 2014, Land Rover plans to have a new generation of the Discovery ready, and it will drop the Freelander name from the range to make it a variant of the Disco. 

The Discovery will get its own family of cars including the Freelander. The standard Discovery will offer seven seats and a large load area. The Freelander will be the five-seat version. The cars will use Land Rover's new family of four-cylinder engines.

Source: Autocar (1,2)