England's pricey answer to the Suzuki Jimny? Baby electric version of Land Rover Defender coming by 2027 - report

A smaller version of the modern Land Rover Defender is set for a debut by 2027 according to JLR CEO Adrian Mardell at the company's investor conference.

Rumoured for years, the smaller 4x4 will be built at the Land Rover plant in Halewood in the UK and share a platform with the Range Rover Evoque, Velar and Land Rover Discovery Sport.

According to UK outlet Autocar, the 'baby Defender' is likely to wear a 'Defender Sport' name, in line with the Discovery Sport and Range Rover Sport which are both more road-focused than their siblings.

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Referring to the EMA platform to be used by the brand's smaller models, Mardell said at the investor conference that "Range Rover, Defender and Discovery brands will come off that platform", effectively confirming a smaller Defender.

The EMA platform is an electric car platform, meaning a relatively compact electric 4x4 with 800V architecture for fast charging and a relatively small wheelbase is on the way.

Electric versions of the brand's current models will be built alongside the Defender Sport at the company's Halewood factory in North-West England, though the company will build them as Range Rover, Discovery and Defender as separate brand names after having announced a rebrand as JLR, ditching the Land Rover brand.

While the Land Rover brand remains in use in Australia for now, the Defender is proving it's bigger than just a model name by outselling everything else in the JLR stable this year so far - and by a significant margin.

Up to the end of July, 1956 new Defenders found homes in Australia, making up almost half of Land Rover's 4276 sales, outselling the next-bestselling model (Range Rover Sport with 1097 sales), and leaving everything else (including the entire Jaguar brand's 279 sales) well in its wake.