Land Rover is moving closer to bringing a Defender-badged pickup truck to the North American market.

The British automaker signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Stellantis in May 2026 to explore product development and shared manufacturing capacity in the United States. JLR Chief Financial Officer Richard Molyneux confirmed during a recent earnings call that the parties intend to finalize the agreement by the end of the year.

Now, a new report from Automotive News claims the alliance is planning to produce a new Land Rover Defender-badged pickup for the U.S. market.

Beating the Tariff Barrier

The joint venture would reflect a strategic shift in JLR’s global market focus. While the automaker has seen sales cool off significantly in China-which accounts for less than 7 percent of global volume-North America now represents roughly 30 percent of JLR’s total sales.

JLR is targeting the lucrative U.S. luxury segment, where 44 percent of consumer demand sits above the $50,000 threshold, and the market for vehicles priced over $80,000 represents 1.3 million annual sales.

The decision to assemble a pickup stateside is driven primarily by import tariffs. Every Defender currently sold in the U.S. arrives from JLR’s plant in Nitra, Slovakia, facing standard import duties. However, light trucks imported into the United States carry the steep, long-standing 25 percent “Chicken Tax” tariff. By partnering with Stellantis to assemble a pickup locally, JLR avoids the tariff barrier that would otherwise make a European-built Defender truck financially unviable. The project would mark JLR’s first foray into U.S. vehicle production and its first local pickup offering since the Series trucks sold in the early 1970s.

Stellantis Manufacturing and JLR Platform Questions

While JLR and Stellantis have confirmed ongoing collaboration talks, exact production sites and engineering details remain undisclosed. Stellantis CEO Antonio Filosa confirmed the group is discussing a joint project tied to a specific U.S. factory. Reports suggest the idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois is a candidate, though neither company has officially confirmed the location.

It also remains unconfirmed whether the proposed truck will utilize the current Defender’s unibody structure or leverage existing Stellantis body-on-frame truck hardware from Ram or Jeep. Powertrain details have similarly been withheld, leaving potential options spanning from JLR’s own turbocharged inline-six engines to Stellantis’ Hurricane inline-six or electrified setups. Final specifications and target launch timelines are expected once the formal agreement is finalized later this year.

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