land rover defender tease i
John Mahoney30 Aug 2019
NEWS

2020 Land Rover Defender previewed

First official image of an undisguised Defender follows public leak from James Bond set earlier this week

A fresh teaser image of the all-new Land Rover Defender has been released ahead of its official debut at the Frankfurt motor show on September 10, revealing its new grille and badge design.

The image, posted overnight, comes after an embarrassing leak of a completely undisguised Defender earlier this week via Instagram, direct from the set of the next James Bond movie No Time to Die.

The new image of a suitably muddy bonnet and grille only goes to prove the leaked pic was accurate and representative of the car Land Rover plans to unwrap in Frankfurt, featuring the same decals and offset badge above a single-bar grille.

Due on sale in Australia early next year, the initial long-wheelbase Defender 110 -- as revealed by the leak -- will get the original Alpine high-mounted rear windows, four conventional doors with concealed hinges, plenty of ground clearance and a much rounder overall shape reminiscent of the latest Discovery.

Inspired by the DC 100 concept, the next Defender will be offered in three body styles – 90, 110 and eventually 130 – with the 110 to be officially unveiled next month in five-, six- and seven-seat guises.

All new Defenders will come with all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission, but six engines will eventually be offered alongside – at least in the UK – five equipment grades: Standard, S, SE, HSE and X.

The new Defender will be launched with conventional and 48-volt mild-hybrid versions of Jaguar Land Rover’s Ingenium range of petrol and diesel engines, followed by a plug-in hybrid and, potentially, all-electric powertrain.

On the diesel side, according to rumours, there will be two versions powered by the firm’s 2.0-litre diesel – a D200 with 147kW and a D240 that produces 177kW -- plus a powerful D300 that musters 221kW from its 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder.

The D200 is expected to hit 100km/h in around 10 seconds, while the punchier D240 should take 8.3sec and the flagship D300 around 7.4sec.

Three petrol Defender engines will also be offered – a P300 (221kW), P400 (294kW) and the plug-in hybrid P400e that will produce up to 645Nm of torque and be capable of reaching the 100km/h in a very un-Defender-like 5.9 seconds.

It’s not known if the P300 and P400 will be powered by the car-maker’s inline six-cylinder petrol engines, or if the less powerful P300 will be powered by a mild-hybrid version of the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder that currently powers the sporty F-TYPE.

Aside from the D300 diesel, all engines are expected to be available from launch in 2020.

Expect generous standard features for all models, including 18-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights, a 10.0-inch touch-screen infotainment system, 7.0-inch driver’s display and powered driver’s seat.

In an even bigger departure from the original military model, top-spec Defenders will be lavishly equipped with a 12.0-inch digital instrument cluster, leather trim, 14-speaker 740W Meridian sound, 16-way power seat adjustment, 20-inch alloy wheels and matrix LED headlights.

In the future a more powerful SVR and go-anywhere SVX model, plus luxurious SVAutobiography variants, could join the range.

Despite its car-like unibody construction and mass-market appeal, JLR says the 2020 Defender will be the “most capable off-road Land Rover vehicle ever”.

It claims that, by the time it reaches production, prototypes will have completed more than 45,000 tests and millions of kilometres of testing from Death Valley to Dubai and the Nurburgring, including altitudes of more than 4000 metres and temperatures as low as -40 degrees and as high as +48 degrees.

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