I agree the competition is coming, and it's about time! So many mass produced SUVs are manufactured for idylic drives. An example is the ND on 22" rims: there's nothing that ND can do with it's high end tech that is likely to help a ND off road when it's riding on 22" rims; it's a complete mis-match, like trying to sell a plastic shovel to a coal miner. All that tech would surely help a ND riding 17 or 18" rims with KO2s, but a 22" rim off the pavement is a flat waiting to happen. If JLR wanted ND to go off road for long periods of time, it could try to reduce top speed, reduce the caliper sizes, and stick some rims on there that could actually benefit from the 4x4 tech they offer. Instead ND has tech features you're not likely to use, because the low profile tires will sooner fail before you have a chance to use the features. You absolutely don't need to overland every weekend to benefit on a daily basis from a strong suspension, good ground clearance, and a set of thick tires. Although my annual tally of off road travel is not substantial, it was constant enough to ruin a prior Forrester's suspension I had - the dealer said pretty much all the parts attached to the tires were going. This is the fundamental problem I had with a street oriented SUV - I was supposed to always keep it on the streets, otherwise stuff can either go wrong or get expensive. So I upgraded to a LR and love it - no suspension problems after 9 years & mild misuse. The LR has taken the many, many unexpected potholes I've hit while cruising 30 mph, plus all the years of adventure trips that have included the slow speeds for the mud ruts, gravel roads, mountain road descents, snow & icy roads, plus anything that's fallen in my path -like branches-up and over. I don't have air suspension and I have 18" rims, so unlike ND, my LR is always prepared for knocks and bumps - it has bigger wheel arches than ND, even though it's way smaller. I find many SUVs unrealistically prepared for even the most basic of hazards: potholes - I have a friend that flattened 2 tires on one pothole (same side of the car), whereas that same scenario would have been fine on my LR because the tires are bigger & the suspension would have absorbed some of the force. Lousy suspension gave the full hit to low profile tires, leaving him stranded. That's not nothing; that's kinda what I like about my LR - I hit stuff and I don't get issues afterwards. The ND doesn't offer that - if you hit a pothole on 22" rims, you're screwed. Even with the 19" rims, it's a heavy SUV, and there's very little room in that wheel arch... I don't get it. The number of Wranglers I see on a daily baisis is a pretty good indication that my view is common: a Wrangler can go over pretty much anything, and yet they also are out there doing daily drive duty. So if Grenadier enters the mix showing great durability + even a modest passenger comfort for the daily drive, it's going to rack up sales. Wrangler - which is OK inside, but limited in terms of space and it's not LR quiet or comfortable - racks up tremendous sales numbers by folks that want an SUV they can take off the pavement with confidence, even if that's not often. Wranglers go to beach houses, ski slopes, and cabins in the woods - plus they do thousands of miles on the pavement for daily drives. If more manufacturers want to build more choices for that type of use, great.
