Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), the British subsidiary of the country’s leading auto giant Tata Motors, has postponed the plans of discontinuing its popular utility vehicle, Land Rover Defender, model in the Indian market. The Defender model will now continue to be on sale at company showrooms till year 2017. It was speculated earlier that the Land Rover Defender model will be phased-out from the global markets after the company had announced to launch a new SUV by year 2015. The Defender SUV was first introduced in the world market in year 1983.
Though the incompatibility with the prospective emission norms, safety standards and fuel regulations have made it necessary for Land Rover to phase-out this iconic SUV, but a few recent development have made it possible for Defender model to stay in the market for another two years. It is to be mentioned here that Land Rover Defender model is compatible with the EU6 emission norms.
This means, though the engine will be same 2.2L, but the upcoming version of Land rover will be carrying a better fuel economy and lower emission level as compared to the same of its existing model. The company had recently showcased a long wheel base four door variant of the car at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 2011.
