I agree Bill. It is sad if they go down this road. They need to look at Jeep. They managed to modernize the Jeep while keeping the live axles and offer diff locks and low gear standard. Land Rover could, easily, make a much better off road vehicle than they have currently, while making it meet modern requirements much cheaper than the current model. Jeep is making money hand over fist and Rover could make something so much better if they went down the correct path.
I would be willing to bet a few of us could sit down and make the basic design within a week of work for a modern, rugged, off and on road capable truck that would be cheaper to produce and make them a lot of money.
Personally, I don't really believe they have any designers working at LR that are off road knowledgeable. They have a bunch of car designers.