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Next Defender & Wrangler

Jeep, Land Rover squaring up for bakkie spat

The bakkie world may be a pretty exciting place right now with the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz X-Class, the imminent entry of Renault to the market and talk of Peugeot, BMW, Audi and even Lamborghini taking to the pick-up market, but let’s be quite honest, they really are just peas in a pod right now.

Double comeback
But that’s set to return with the arrival of a couple of retro bakkies in the form of Jeep and Land Rover’s double return to the market. Both of them have basically built bakkies for close to 80 years now and while both have been missing from the market for a respective long and short while, both will be back soon as the real custodians of 4x4 limber up for a future retro bakkie war.
Jeep has been suggesting a Wrangler bakkie since the 2005 Gladiator Concept and there have been a few fresher concepts since then, but now there’s real movement since Fiat Chrysler capo Sergio Marchionne promised on several occasions that Jeep will finally offer a production pickup as part of the next-generation Wrangler range from late 2019 – two years later than originally anticipated.
Land Rover will meanwhile launch its new bakkie part of extended Defender range in an effort to underpin the company’s commitment to its most famous model by 2020. The Defender SUV will be revealed as part of Land Rover’s 70th anniversary celebrations later this year, but more variants are already in the pipeline including the next Defender pick-up set to appeal to markets from the United States to Europe and Asia, among others.

4x4 leaders
To be built alongside the next Wrangler SUV at Jeep's Toledo, Ohio plant following a R10-billion upgrade in facilities there, the Jeep bakkie will follow next year’s ute a year down the line and will bring that vehicle’s evolved new face with more prominently angled grille slats, LED running headlamps and a load bay behind a single or double-cab.
It is understood that new Wrangler will move to a lighter, aluminium-rich construction for a wieldier nature on and off the road, brisker performance and meaner economy from the mooted petrol, diesel and a new hybrid powertrain. Talking power, Jeep is said to be developing a new 230kW turbo-petrol four pot Hurricane to join the 200kW 3.8-liter Pentastar V6 and a new 3-litre turbodiesel V6. 
The Land Rover bakkie will meanwhile be based on the forthcoming longer-wheelbase Defender and is likely to be offered in single and double-cab incarnations and powered by a range of 2-litre petrol and diesel JLR Ingenium engines, albeit as Land Rovers, only in 4x4 form. The new Defender bakkie will come in a broad three specification range, from a most spartan version built in a rumoured new Mexican JLR factory, up to a luxury to rival the likes of the X-Class and manufactured in the firm’s new Slovakian plant.

Better bakkie utility
Set to be christened Scrambler, the Jeep bakkie will get a unique removable roof as in the SUV in at least three hood configurations along with better, bakkie utility, but carrying over that fabled Wrangler 4x4 ability.
A Defender pick-up will naturally also appeal to developing markets, including South America and Africa, where old Defenders are still used.