Land Rover made good on its promise for a second-generation
Defender at the 2019 Frankfurt
motor show. The Defender landed in Frankfurt in three-door 90 and
five-door 110 forms, we reportedly would eventually see a pickup truck based on
the new SUV. However, it appears as though those Defender pickup truck dreams
may never come to fruition.
A “senior” Land Rover Jaguar
source told Australia’s Car
Sales on the sidelines of the Frankfurt show that plans for the
Defender-based pickup have been scrapped. The four-door pickup was slated to be
based on the upcoming long-wheelbase version of the Defender, known as the 130.
"Why would you buy a dual-cab ute when you see what you
can put in the back of one of these—this is already a ute with a roof,” the
insider said.
Although a Defender-based
pickup truck would have been cool, Land Rover’s decision to bin the model
doesn’t have an impact in the U.S. The new Defender is made in Slovakia, which
means a pickup truck version of the SUV would have been subject to the United
States’ Chicken Tax, which slaps a 25 percent tariff on all foreign-made
trucks. Even with the U.S.’ insatiable appetite for pickups, a $65,000 base
model Defender pickup would have been a hard sell.
Both the Defender 90 and 110 will be sold in the U.S. The
110 model is available for order now with a starting price of about $50,000.
The Defender 90 will arrive sometime down the line with a slightly lower price
point.
source: https://www.motorauthority.com/news/1125024_is-a-land-rover-defender-pickup-no-longer-happening
by Drew Johnson
http://www.boscheuropean.com
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