Land Rover stopped importing the Defender because it wasn't possible to modify the existing vehicle in so many areas to meet the NHTSA specs.
Any one of the individual items necessary sounds, at first blush, to be a pretty simple modification, but when added together was too far a departure form the existing platform.
Items needed included:
Impact absorbing front and rear bumpers.
SRS system including both Driver and Front Passenger Air Bags.
Soft Dashboard, and A Pillars.
Side Impact Reinforcing Beams, All 4 Doors.
The door beams alone would mean a redesign of the doors as there simply isn't enough room for the window regulator and glass in the existing doors.
The dash of the current Defender (pretty much a holdover from the Series 3)
would look alltogether different.
While the newest versions are a far cry nicer than earliest ones, the New Defender won't be much like it at all. If that's the only one that will do it for you, your choices are to buy one already here, build one, or wait 25 years for that model year to qualify.
The good news about the newest design is Ford AND Land Rover understand the importance of embodying as much of the spirit and appearance of the original, and at the same time, eliminating the dozens of flaws that make them a cramped, cold, wet, noisy and less than reliable truck.
In the end, if it ends up looking like a Trooper, Pathfinder, or other such (I'm being cautious in my wording here) thing, The blame doesn't lay only at Land Rover's door. The NHTSA is the main driver here.
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