Yahoo Autos The 2020 Land Rover Defender is for sale, but supply is short
Land Rover announced the new 2020 Defender was officially on sale in America a week ago. Listings on various car sales websites indicate that yes, the Defender is here, and it is for sale. However, a new report from Automotive News dashes some cold water on the party.
Instead of a flood of Defenders marching into the U.S., AN describes the supply as “thin on the ground.” The short supply is reportedly due to low output at the Nitra, Slovakia, plant where the SUV is made. It was shut down for eight weeks due to the coronavirus, and is only now moving back to business as usual. AN reports the plant has capacity to make 150,000 vehicles per year, but it’s also the only plant supplying Defenders to 100 global markets. On top of that, Land Rover also produces the Discovery at this plant.
Land Rover has 188 dealers nationwide, according to AN, and each dealer is expected to get at least one Defender by the end of the month. As of now, Land Rover says that “several hundred” total have been sent to dealers. We did some looking around ourselves and found just over a hundred listed online for sale on various websites like Autotrader and Cars.com. Not only that, but most appear to be listed at MSRP. A “market adjustment” was the first thing on our minds when we saw there was a low supply, but on the surface, it looks like the Defender can be had for the prices on the sticker.
