The current Defender is a luxurious SUV that’s quite capable off-road. Stellantis, of course, has the off-road brand Jeep in its portfolio, and Jeep produces plenty of vehicles that are plenty capable off-road.
Torque News Breaks Down Why Jaguar Land Rover Would Partner With Stellantis
This decision is driven in part by the struggles premium brands are experiencing in China while luxury brands remain popular in the U.S.
“Our aspiration, in the coming years, is to grow our U.S. business to the size of the entire JLR business as it exists today,” JLR CEO PB Balaji said in a statement June 17, according to Automotive News.
Right now, 38 percent of global wealth is in the United States, along with 38 percent of the richest customers.
U.S. new-car prices are also higher than elsewhere, and Jaguar says 44 percent of American demand is for cars north of $50,000 - we’ll pause here to note that the average transaction price for new cars is around $50,000 - with vehicles priced over $80,000 accounting for 1.3 million units sold.
The least expensive Defender starts at around $63K and the most expensive, the ultra-high-end Octa, starts at $158,300 or so. It’s not hard to option even a $63,000 Land Rover Defender 90 to over $80,000.
North America, including Canada, is already Jaguar Land Rover’s biggest market. And with the company not offering as many electrified models as some of the competition, it is not surprising that JLR is shifting towards a market that is still big on internal-combustion engine vehicles. Electric and electrified vehicles continue to grow in market share, but the North American market is friendlier to ICE vehicles at present. Especially after the Trump Administration reduced emissions regulations and sidelined requirements that would’ve required automakers to build more electric models.
The rising demand for luxury products coupled with the strong preference we see for our brands signals significant growth potential,” Balaji said, according to AN.
Thirty percent Jaguar Land Rover’s sales in the first quarter of 2026 have come from North America, while the number in China is just 6.7 percent.
Torque News Shows How The Partnership Would Work
There are very details about specs involving a Defender built by Stellantis. One possibility is that JLR could choose to build the next Defender in a U.S.-based plant that Stellantis is underutilizing. That would help Jaguar Land Rover dodge tariffs.
Currently, the Defender, which is built in Nitra, Slovakia, is tariffed at 15 percent, up from the previous 2.5 percent.
With emissions rollbacks in mind, JLR is looking to make its offerings in “optimized” for North America. Plans to offer the EMA platform mid-size SUV as electric-only have changed, and now a hybrid option will be added. Jaguar plans on taking the wraps off the first EMA-based vehicle later this year, and reports suggest it will be a replacement for the Range Rover Velar.
From there, the next EMA-based model will be a smaller Defender - it’s unclear if the report is referring to a smaller model using the Defender name, or if it’s referencing the fact that the Defender is smaller than the Velar. This Defender will be offered with hybrid and electric powertrains.
Jaguar Land Rover still plans to shift Jaguar to EV-only, and the Type 01 sedan remains slated to launch later this year.
Stellantis has also pulled back on EV development given the changes set by the Trump administration, and its spending 60 percent of its global product development money on North America through 2030.
A Stellantis/JLR pairing is a bit mixed, in terms of whether the idea makes sense or not. On the one hand, using unutilized plant space in the States makes sense for JLR, especially if tariffs remain in place. On the other hand, the Defender is supposed to compete with Jeep. The Defender can compete with high-end Wranglers and the Grand Cherokee (especially when/if the Trailhawk trim returns). Then again, automakers share platforms across brands all the time, even if two models are technically competitors.
Subaru and Toyota are an example there - think about the Solterra/bZ or the BRZ/GR86 pairings.
As capable off-road as the Defender is - and your author has taken on to an off-road park and had success navigating obstacles - Jeeps can do some serious off-roading. So maybe infusing a little Jeep DNA makes the Defender even better off-road.
Or perhaps it's simply a cost-saving move by a struggling, small brand. Either way, it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Images: Jaguar Land Rover
About The Author
Tim Healey is an experienced automotive writer and editor from Chicago. He has covered automotive news at Consumer Guide Automotive, Web2Carz, AutoGuide, and was the managing editor at The Truth About Cars. Tim is a member of the Midwest Automotive Media Association. You can find him on Facebook, X/Twitter, and on LinkedIn.
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