Land Rover vehicles have been popular platforms for decades. But, one peculiar thing has happened over the years. The pickup variation is no longer available from their entire model lineup. The Land Rover Defender was just redesigned. So, many were hoping for a pickup truck variant. But, part of the changes included making the Defender with a unibody structure, instead of a ladder-frame chassis. So, no pickup variant is expected. This begs the question, What if the automaker made a pickup?

The Defender pickup

The lack of a pickup in the Land Rover lineup has left many wondering, what if? Some of those people that are wondering have rendering skills. So, they have taken it upon themselves to create their own take on what could be. X-Tomi Design has posted on their Facebook account their pickup creation based on the Defender model. It is above.

X-Tomi Design’s rendition of the Defender pickup is an interesting concoction. The seamless body seems to be a stretched Defender two-door version, but not quite as long as the four-door version. The seamless body lines seem to lend themselves well with the pickup truck bed. But keep in mind that the Defender starts at $49,900. So, that price point seems a bit steep for a small pickup. 

The Land Rover Full-Size Heavy Duty Pickup

A larger pickup truck from Land Rover might make more sense. Spending a pretty penny for a Land Rover should come with a more muscular full-size type of pickup. Interestingly enough, that has also been rendered from a person’s imagination and onto the digital canvas. Our friends at Autoevolution discovered that Andrew Alewine had prepared a full-size heavy-duty pickup rendering for the automaker. It is above.

As you can see, this rendering is significantly different from anything in the Land Rover lineup right now. However, it does have some family characteristics. The rugged, off-road, blocky looks, high stance for water fording ability, and of course, the Land Rover badge, all speak of the lineage of the vehicle. It looks like a mix of a Hummer and an old Lamborghini LM002. 

The Land Rover Defender platform was supposed to be versatile

Back in 2011, Land Rover was already coming up with ideas for variants of the then soon-to-come Defender. Our friends at Autocar were given the opportunity to drive one of the auto manufacturer’s concepts for the Defender. That video is below. At that time, they were under the impression that the Defender would be a very versatile platform for the auto-maker. So, maybe the two-door and four-door versions that launched this year are not the only things the automaker has up its sleeves. Could there be a potential pickup down the road based on the Defender’s unibody structure? Many would scoff at the idea. But, it is not unheard of to have a unibody pickup. Think Honda Ridgeline. 

Land Rover is one of the few automakers in the United States without a pickup in its portfolio of products. Yet, the US market is huge into trucks, with pickups being the number one seller year after year. So, a pickup truck may yet return to the lineup for the automaker. But, until one is presented, artists with rendering capabilities will continue to answer, what if Land Rover made a pickup?