The Land Rover Defender family is set to grow, with a smaller electrified SUV wearing the popular nameplate due to launch within two years.
Autocar reports the ‘Defender Sport’ will go on sale in 2027, when it will become the second model in Land Rover’s Defender sub-brand comprising rugged SUVs.
It’s not the first time the baby Defender has been rumoured, with the UK publication previously reporting Land Rover’s plans to introduce a more compact version of the off-road SUV in 2023, however, Autocar has now reportedly spied a prototype of the upcoming model.
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Defender 110
While the prototype is unmistakably a Defender in its silhouette, its physical size is significantly smaller, reportedly measuring about 4.6 metres long and 2.0 metres wide.
Sitting at a relatively low 1.8 metres tall, the Defender Sport will likely be more on-road focused than the full-size model.
It’ll reportedly run on JLR’s upcoming Electrified Modular Architecture (EMA), which was previously set to exclusively underpin electric vehicles (EVs), however, a cooling of global EV demand could see it become a plug-in hybrid (PHEV) compatible platform.
Other models set to be based on the EMA include the Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Evoque, with production to take place in the UK.
The EMA will be an 800-volt platform, and its electric motors and batteries are set to also be built in the UK at an upcoming factory in Somerset, owned by JLR parent Tata.
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Defender 90
The proposed Defender Sport name would allow Land Rover to have a smaller ‘Sport’ model across all three of its sub-brands, alongside the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport.
However, the publication reports the Discovery Sport could face the axe, as the current-generation model dates back to 2014 and isn’t one of Land Rover’s biggest sellers.
The Defender, meanwhile, is one of its most popular models in the majority of markets, including Australia where it accounted for 40 per cent of Land Rover sales in 2024.
While the Defender started life as a utilitarian off-roader and continued as such until 2016, its rebirth in 2020 as a luxurious off-road SUV hasn’t resulted in a drop in popularity.
Though the Defender Sport would be a relative rarity in the small and rugged-looking luxury SUV space, Mercedes-Benz is reportedly working on a baby G-Wagen, which will also have similar looks to its bigger sibling but should offer more day-to-day practicality.
