The Horse Trial in Kentucky now has a new sponsor, and thus a new name. 23 hours ago they were still posting as Land Rover.
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strange as the Defender is a model made by Land River that could not be bought in the USA for decades since it did not have airbags, I guess they updated to US safety standards? Just checked locally yes they have Defenders for sale… A LOT of them, so I guess they are slow sellers
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I bought my tickets in May and received an email which has disappeared. I called Equestrian Events and referred to the event as the Defender and the lady said I made her day. I was the first to call it the Defender. She resent my ticket info immediately. She was so nice! I forgot how pleasant the people in KY are. Looking forward to the best weekend of the year! Got me a vrbo….
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Defenders were on the market here as of last April at minimum - they were parked all over the KHP! Also last April Jaguar Land Rover announced their renaming as JLR, with Defender, Discovery and Range Rover to become separate brands alongside Jaguar. I heard a rumor last year that Defender was going to be the US brand with the others remaining in the UK, but I don’t have time right now to research that.
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Pretty much. It’s not a new name or sponsorship, just a rebranding movement.
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Thank goodness. Could have been named the Tata Three Day Event.
For you non-car folks, India’s Tata Motors is the owner of Land Rover.
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I’ve seen a lot of Defenders for sale here in the US over the last several decades. They did disappear for awhile – I hadn’t realized the lack of airbags was the problem! Since I’ve never owned a car that had an airbag I never think about the things. I have thought about Land Rovers, though, a lot, for the past 50-ish years. My dream car back in the '70s was a Land Rover with the spare tire on the hood (spare wheel on the bonnet).
Interesting that the event has gone from “Land Rover” to just “Defender.”
The good old Landie Defender ceased production due to EU emission standards and because it was basically so old fashioned it was deemed to be “past it” - to the sorrow of it’s many fans. In 2020 the all-new, all singing and dancing Land Rover Defender was launched, which looks like any other SUV - though it has a passing nod to the older version in some of the shapes and design details. The market for the older models remains very robust.
ETA typo
All of my gazzillionare neighbors have Defenders. I almost get hit by them pretty regularly when I’m walking my dog. (Although they don’t drive any more carelessly than non-Defender driving people) At least now I can feel slightly better about the six-figure SUV barreling down the road at us—I’ll just think, ‘here comes Kentucky!’ every time.
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