---
title: "All We Want for Christmas Is a Land Rover Defender—a New One"
description: "The return of the iconic 4x4 can’t come soon enough."
date: "2015-12-08"
modified: "2015-12-08"
authors:
  - name: "Max Goldberg"
    job_title: "Associate Editor"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/max-goldberg"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/new-cars/1164/all-we-want-for-christmas-is-a-land-rover-defender-a-new-one"
categories:
  - "Land Rover News"
  - "News"
  - "News by Brand"
tags:
  - "Defender"
  - "land rover"
  - "luxury"
  - "Off-Road"
  - "suv/crossover"
---

# All We Want for Christmas Is a Land Rover Defender—a New One

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/120715_defender_hero.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

As winter approaches, many Land Rover Defenders tuck away into a nice four-month slumber, not to emerge until another season of topless fun is upon the land. Some, meanwhile, are getting fitted with knobby tires to battle whatever cold-weather high jinks mother nature has in store. In either scenario, however, these beloved offroaders are aging. The last time the U.S. saw a new one on its soil was 1997. As these British tanks grow older, the question of a replacement looms. Granted, 2018 is not around the corner, but any return is better than none at all.

Land Rover plans to bring [a modernized version of the Defender](<https://www.caranddriver.com/features/2018-land-rover-defender-25-cars-worth-waiting-for-feature>) in for the 2019 model year. But again, more questions.

Will the Defender be some mass-market eco-something? Land Rover has been fairly mum, having only committed to keeping the old Defender’s genes intact. Realistically, that means more luxuries than the bare-bones Defenders of old wore, but all the off-road capability the faithful have come to expect.

What we do know is this: Whether you’re blasting dunes on Nantucket or gliding over the cobblestones of the Meatpacking District in Manhattan, everyone turns to watch a [Land Rover Defender](<https://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-in/land-rover/news/2015/11/lr_def_bonhams_rel_301115/?&locus=1>) rumble by. The iconic offroader is loved by all. With standard-setting terrain capability and chiseled, square-jawed looks, it’s a machine to fantasize about—which is all Americans have been able to do for nearly 20 years, when [Land Rover](<https://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-in/land-rover/news/2015/11/lr_def_bonhams_rel_301115/?&locus=1>) stopped sales of the model here.

The brand has committed to releasing five models: two two-door models, a longer wheelbase four-door model, a two-door pickup and a four-door pickup (the latter two, lamentably, are not earmarked for the U.S.), with eyes on selling 100,000 units a year.

They’re not under our tree just yet, but soon, guys. Soon.

## Author
Before working at *The Drive*, Max Goldberg raced the streets of Westchester in an ambulance as a licensed Emergency Medical Technician. He has boundless enthusiasm.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/maxems>)