The Land Rover Defender, in its current guise, will be replaced in entirety by 2016 according to well placed sources. The 65 year old Defender is some what of an old war horse for Land Rover, a glimpse into the company’s past while its surrounded by the future. Land Rover have apparently given official approval, behind closed doors, on the look of the new Defender but have yet to go public on the design direction for the final production version. It is expected to closely follow the DC100 concept that debuted in 2011, or at least take an inspiration from the concept’s styling elements. It is believed a concept version will be prepared for next years Geneva motorshow although little is known on the type of platform the Defender will be based upon. An aluminium “superstructure” in the form of a monocoque is expected to make up much of the Defenders basic chassis. Sadly the Defender may well loose its thuggish ode to simplicity and go for the premium end of market. However it may well end up becoming the most capable Land Rover in the company’s model line up. The Defender is expected to use Land Rovers current engine range, from the V6 diesels too quite possibly a future hybrid powerplant. The JLR group’s overseas territories are also pulling in new buyers, China now accounts for 100,000 vehicle sales compared to 2008 when JLR sold 6,000 for the year. We’ll be sad to see the Defender go, its antiquated, slow, the driving position is odd and the control systems seem to be designed from the perspective of how the Victorian’s saw the future. But its off-road capabilities are legendary, reliability suspect, and the styling is a modern classic in automotive terms and that’s why we love it. Land Rover were unavailable for comment, we emailed them and they didn’t respond, they never respond to our emails.