Defender Brand Prepares for Its Biggest Adventure Yet: Standalone Identity

JLR is crafting a new brand pathway forward. Today’s iteration of Land Rover, where two-thirds of the JLR name comes from, pushes forward each of its vehicle groups’ identities (Discovery, Range Rover and Defender) ahead of the classic Land Rover name.

“The journey we’re on now is to establish Defender as a brand in its own right, still with Land Rover behind it,” Mark Cameron, managing director of the Defender and Discovery brands, told Newsweek while sitting on the porch of a remote lodge in South Africa.

In previous iterations, Defender SUVs were known more for their off-road prowess than comfort. Their modern models, born in three forms starting five years ago, are equal parts comfort, technology and off-road chops.

But, product is just one part of the Defender brand strategy. There are a number of parts to the fresh brand’s identity, and many of them do not include cars. “We’ll have different expressions of Defender from a product perspective, [that] and customer experience services is where I see potential for Defender, way outside of the typical automotive world,” Cameron said.

“It’s a conscious decision to add more complexity in our business,” he said, explaining that the added complexity opens each of the JLR brands up to a new type of customer.

The Defender brand image relies heavily on the past identity, distant and near, of the brand to create its future. For decades, Defenders have been used by owners for great excursions across the globe, riding on, through and over much of the world’s toughest passable terrain.

In its modern iteration, the Defender brand is taking customers on those journeys. “We take customers on holidays across Africa or in Moab or the Arctic Circle,” Cameron said. When you buy a Defender, “you’re buying into a brand and an adventure and a lifestyle.”

To build the brand, the company has proof-of-concept legs to stand on. From 2020 to 2024, global Defender sales increased every year. Monthly sales today are equivalent to the annual sales of the previous-generation model.

New Defenders sold today are listed for tens of thousands of dollars more each than the last-generation SUV. Today’s base model Defender 90 has a manufacturer’s suggested retail price in the U.S. of around $57,000. The top-tier Defender 110 Octa is priced at $168,000.

All 2,000 Defender Octa Edition One models the company has promised to create have been allocated.

And, the Defender lineup will be expanding. Though its Defender 110 Octa just went on sale, the company isn’t hitting pause, Cameron explained. “We’re looking at other limited-edition vehicles, collaborations that would be all part of a Defender ecosystem of offerings. What we’re not doing is building a traditional hierarchy of sub-brand for Defender.…There will be other products that we bring out that will be part of that ecosystem,” he said.

Those models will be sold at retail locations in the U.S. that are part of the traditional dealership model. Cameron is focused on ensuring that the ownership experience is where Defender needs it to be, saying that “the quality of the vehicle, how [owners are] treated, how the retailer deals with them [and] things like the resale value of the car” are vital to the brand’s success.

Resale value is helped by perceived desirability—in Defender’s case, that means tweaking a vehicle over time rather than radically changing tack. “We want to keep the formula, because all the research tells us that it’s the character and design of the car that people most love. It’s the driving position, the feeling you get when you’re in it. So, we don’t want to mess with the formula too much, but just evolve it in areas where we can improve it,” Cameron said.

He also mentioned, “Defender in its category is number one or two in terms of resale value. That massively helps loyalty and repurchase if the car is worth a good deal [when traded in].”

Additionally, Defender owners can expect to see big upgrades to their connected app experience in 2026 and 2027. “Next year [and the] year after, we’re going to be massively evolving that and adding much more functionality, many more things and features that the customer can do with their Defender,” Cameron teased.

The Defender brand is also working to gain a foothold in the accessories business. Cameron explained, “We are hard at work now, and you’ll see in the future [we will be] massively expanding our own accessory range.…There’s a big chunk of business that we’d love to have that we don’t at the moment.”

He added: “Post-COVID, people want to get out and adventure and see more of the world. The accessories are enablers to do that. I think that the crew cars here [with us in South Africa], with the roof-mounted wheel and sand ladders and boxes, that’s what Defender should be. It’s not just the U.S. China’s another huge market where customers are spending thousands and thousands of dollars equivalent on customizing their car. But are they off-roading? Some are. Some just want the image.”