Land Rover has called their new objective – The Baby Defender Programme. The new Defender is set to be released in 2027. It is rumoured to be sharing the same EMA platform as the Evoque, Velar, and Disco Sport. This means that the Baby Defender will face some iconic rivals – such as the Ford Bronco and the Suzuki Jimny. You’re probably wondering if this is going to be a part of Land Rover’s EV line-up…. We won’t beat around the bush, yes, it will be electric. We understand Land Rover’s push for their electric line, so it only makes sense for their baby Defender to follow suit. Something we do like the sound of is the price tag of this vehicle – it is rumoured to cost around £25,000-£30,000 GBP. Which is a significant reduction from the OG Defender’s price. This could be a result of the baby Defender being considered a Small SUV.
In terms of drivability, we believe the baby Defender will help you to reliably travel on any terrain at any time. All EMA-based cars from LR will be equipped with 800V charging frameworks, accompanied by a likely 350kW battery. Meaning that this vehicle will have a significant amount of power and hopefully will have around 350-400 mile range on a full battery.
We believe that there won’t be much difference in terms of interior design, as all LR products had a major redesign a couple of years ago and it is still very contemporary and breathtaking. Maybe there will be a few technological updates as advancements in the industry and tech progress until 2027 – will be interesting to see how LR incorporate this into their new baby.
We thought it would be fun to ask A.I what they think the new Defender will look like and then we could rate all of their designs.
1. Deep AI (2023) Text To Image – AI Image Generator API. [online] Available at: https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img [Accessed 26 July 2023].
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This baby Defender looks like every other Defender that has been spoken about in articles on the Defender concept/facelift since 2019 onwards. Almost identical to the current Land Rover Defender design – no real change and also doesn’t look very compact – which is what we have been promised from the new version. Looks like the last concept production of the Land Rover Defender 130. The only difference we can really see about this vehicle is the indented alloys. We like this style and we’ve seen a few companies try to adopt this new design – such as Mercedes-Maybach whose Multi-Spoke Wheels in the selection below have been designed with the middle of the alloy indented.
If they included something like this I think this would add just enough change to an already greatly designed car.
2. Gencraft (2023) Generate. Available from https://gencraft.com/generate [Accessed 26 July 2023].
We absolutely loved this website’s A.I creation. It’s a bit more experimental and futuristic. Completely a new direction in comparison to the last website’s product. We could definitely picture this in an article for a concept car/car gossip. Something similar to what Motor 1 posts!
It would be fun for Land Rover to create a vehicle that is a little more Tesla-fied. However, it’s evident that Land Rover’s deep-rooted heritage remains a guiding force, steadfastly anchored to the essence of its brand, which sells itself with tremendous success. Why risk not making sales and achieving their production targets just to fit into the current trends of design when they know they smash it out of the park every year?
In our images created by Gencraft A.I (2023) you can see how it has been built from some of the iconic features and frameworks of the Defender 90. Continuity is a hallmark of every Defender iteration, and this AI-generated Land Rover embodies the same iconic silhouette reminiscent of its predecessors. Defender’s are notorious for their height and their incredible wading, towing and carrying ability. You can see that our own AI-generated Defender shares these traits too from the way it is designed (high from the floor and strong frame/body). We love the headlights in the second image. The shape of them is something that we have never seen before, physical or concept. It blends really well with the futuristic Cybertruck aesthetic. The more rugged and off-roading tyres work well as a contrast to the smooth and futuristic exterior. It brings back the old heritage from the iconic Land Rover Classic to a newer design so that we don’t forget where it has come from.
3. Dezgo (2023) Generate an Image from a Text Description: Powered by Stable Diffusion Ai. Available from https://dezgo.com/ [Accessed 29 July 2023].
Case study 3 from Dezgo (2023) looks like an updated version of the classic Land Rover Defender. It feels as though you could go and see this exact vehicle at an LR museum or classic car show.
The combination of matte green paint and matte black high wheel arches complements the vehicle beautifully. This subtle yet impactful touch enhances the already incredible design of the car. The Land Rover Defender Classic stands as a timeless icon that requires no major alterations. Subtle changes to such an established and well-loved vehicle are perfectly fitting. With this in mind, it would be interesting to see if Land Rover adopts this mindset. As previously, I’ve seen a video (Can’t for the life of me find where it is now) of a classic Defender with a more advanced interior, potentially the 2022 infotainment screen. Immediately, I thought what a good concept. The classic car community is huge and LR is established in it. For cars to work in the 21st century, however, they need to work with 21st-century technology – sat navs, DAB Radio etc. So for this to happen would be amazing.
4. Adobe (2023) Firefly (beta) [computer program]. Available from: https://www.adobe.com/uk/sensei/generative-ai/firefly.html [Accessed 29 July 2023].
Firefly was absolutely awful at predicting the new baby Defender. No matter how many times I asked the AI, in all different formats, to create our concept car, it just never quite got the answer we were looking for. It looks very – American, 90s, Alien Film aesthetic. But, it is in Beta. And we came to the realisation that Adobe will be using its own stock photos instead of allowing its AI Tool to get its information and images from the internet.
5. Fotor (2023) AI Image Generator. Available from: https://www.fotor.com/images/create [Accessed 29 July 2023].
Fotor (2023) produced the most realistic images out of all of the different AI Tools that we used. You can see an updated design and it isn’t too far from what Land Rover has created previously. The headlights and grille aren’t as vertical as a usual Defender, they wrap around the front body slightly more. It gives more of a discovery-esque feel, and we like it. The front of the Defender with a discovery style works really well.
The yellow Defender in the first image (a), from the side looks ultra-realistic, I can imagine this on the streets now. The inclusion of the mudflaps also adds a rugged contrast to the bright-coloured vehicle. The colour is also something we think Land Rover should consider. We saw the introduction of more adventurous exterior colours in the 75th Edition with the mint-ish greens. Maybe this could be a route to go down with the Baby Defender, as it would be a unique selling point (and then it really would be giving the Ford Bronco and Suzuki Jimny a run for their money). The only issue we found with this ‘Baby’ Defender is the size. If there wasn’t a second row of doors on this vehicle, I feel as though this could be put onto the production line!
The second image, Green ‘Baby Defender’ looks exactly like an Urban Defender (for those who don’t know Urban is a modification/kit company). It has the wrap-around lights but other than that it looks exactly the same as the current Defenders. But, we wouldn’t be surprised if LR hardly changes the Baby Defender, but just creates it into a 2-seater commercial like the Suzuki Jimny.
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