Just saw this and tbh it’s way better than the mock ups that have been being driven around however it’s still pretty disappointing. With such big boots to fill I was hoping that landrover with their sort of design budget would have been able to muster something with a bit more than a faint resemblance to the old defender. I think the designers rather cheaply have decided to include things like quarterlights while completely disregarding thing which are far more important to a defender such as utility and simplicity. Feel like a cheap rip off not an improvement.
The whole thing stinks in the same way that Sports direct buying up historically successful sporting brands, and manufacturing products in Korea to very low standards, and then selling them with a logo on as a deceitful ploy. An example of this is Karrimor, which used to be a reputable outdoor make, but nowadays is a rip off with nothing more than the logo in common with the brand of old.
I agree that it basically looks like a d3 with curvier edges and no doubt more features. I don’t think it will turn heads, or sell to many typical defender owners. In fact it will just give middle class housewives another option to choose from, and I’m sure in time the word defender will lose its connotations of desert exploration, military prowess, and agricultural utility, and will instead just become another bland name on list of boring cars for boring people.