The Land Rover Defender nameplate departed from tradition. But the modern SUV has been a huge sales success. JLR made “Defender” part of a family of brands with Jaguar, Range Rover, and Discovery. And not too surprisingly, Land Rover may be ready to expand the Defender brand beyond the two-door 90, four-door 110, and three-row 130 variants.
According to a report from Autocar, Land Rover is working on a new entry-level SUV for the Defender family, which may be called the Defender Sport. Per the report, it will arrive in 2027 to replace the aging Discovery Sport and rival Mercedes’s upcoming Baby G-Class.
Key Takeaways
- Land Rover may launch a new SUV: the Defender Sport
- It would be a compact, entry-level Defender
- It would be smaller than the 110 and ride lower
- It will use an EV platform, but Land Rover may offer a PHEV
- It should slot below the Defender on price
The Defender Sport Will Be A Smaller Defender
Like the Range Rover Sport, the Defender Sport will reportedly be a smaller, more on-road-focused version of the Defender. It will be a smaller, compact SUV. Autocar believes the Defender Sport will be 181.1 inches long, a little over 16 inches shorter than a Defender 110. It would also be a little under seven inches shorter in height and more than four inches narrower.
The Defender Sport will reportedly be lower-riding than the Defender, which has 8.5 inches of ground clearance in normal mode and can extend to 11.5 inches with the air suspension.
The Defender Sport May Be All-Electric Or PHEV
Per the report, the Defender Sport will use JLR’s new electric modular architecture (EMA) platform. It will be a “sibling” of the next-generation Range Rover Evoque and Range Rover Velar vehicles on the same platform. The platform is designed for EVs. Though strong PHEV sales could mean the Defender Sport offers an electrified combustion engine option too.
How Much Will The Defender Sport Cost?
The Defender Sport will reportedly slot below the Defender, which currently starts at $56,900 for the Defender 90 and $60,800 for the Defender 110. The vehicle it may be replacing, the Discovery Sport, starts at $48,900. But it’s hard to gauge what any Land Rover vehicle will cost by the time the Defender Sport arrives in America. The company has paused U.S.-bound shipments for a month to evaluate the Trump administration’s tariffs.
TopSpeed’s Take
Land Rover has not confirmed this yet. But replacing the Discovery Sport with a Defender Sport would make sense. The new vehicle may not functionally be that different. But tying that entry-level model’s nameplate and appearance to the more popular Defender should help sales. If Land Rover does go that route, it raises further questions about the Discovery family’s future role within the “family of brands.”
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