The Land Rover Defender Will Be American?!

Issue #211

Today, we’re discussing a key move that could save Land Rover and give us another cool offroader.

Or, you can continue to read by scrolling down.

Market News

• The White House is pressuring for more American-made cars, and Detroit automakers are sending this warning.

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• Stellantis recalls 955,000 vehicles because of this rearview camera issue.

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In The Know

The Land Rover Defender Will Be American?!

Recently, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has struggled. First, there was this cyberattack that derailed the company in 2025. It caused so much havoc that the company used it as a catalyst to stop producing cars (specifically, Jaguar) and reassess where it wanted to go.

Then, there were tariffs, which impacted the company so much that profit fell 99% Year-To-Year. Between these factors, plus JLR losing grip in China, the automaker was desperate.

To make matters worse, JLR’s presence in the US isn’t consolidated. Granted, the new Land Rover Defender has posted consistently increasing sales since 2023; it still only sold 28,000 units in 2025. You can check out their performance here.

For comparison’s sake, Jeep sold 167,000 Wranglers in 2025. (There’s a specific reason why I use the Wrangler as an example).

There are several reasons why the Defender doesn’t sell that well. First, Land Rover has never been an extremely popular brand in the US. Having owned two, I can say their driving position and offroading abilities are unmatched. So is their unreliability. If you want to dive into a rabbit hole of nightmarish reliability, you can read some reviews here.

So, now that we’ve covered that Land Rovers aren’t reliable, nor are they popular in the US, one begs to question: why are we talking about them? Well, it turns out that the next Defenders might be American.

That’s right: the most iconic British automotive brand could come from the US, and it’s all thanks to a strange but interesting deal that might work. Here’s a refresher on which cars are less prone to tariff impact, and why it’s important for this article. In short, final assembly in the US is crucial for lessening impact, and that’s precisely what JLR wants to do.

So, JLR knocked on Stellantis’ door and said: “could we assemble the Land Rover Defender in your plants if the need arises in the future?” I say “the future” because this agreement quietly happened in May of this year. Now, we understand why.

The answer wasn’t a straightforward yes. Instead, there’s critical fine print.

After all, for a vehicle to have a lower tariff impact, it needs more than assembly. It also needs parts. That’s why, as this article explains, the idea is to produce a Defender in the US using Stellantis parts.

Will this be a simple case of rebadging? This article doesn’t think so. However, it will rely heavily on the Wrangler. Interestingly, this would make an excellent competitor against the…Wrangler?

Truly, a fascinating case. Let’s just hope it’s reliable.