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Paul Gover10 Sept 2019
NEWS

FRANKFURT MOTOR SHOW: New Land Rover Defender priced

Born-again British off-roader to cost around $70K, followed by cheaper two-door Defender 90 in 2021

The all-new Land Rover Defender will have a $70,000 starting price when the four-door 110 version lands in Australia in June next year, with the promise of a $50,000-ish two-door 90 model to follow in late 2020.

First Australian orders for the 2020 Land Rover Defender 110 are being taken today for deliveries next June and there will also be a First Edition that will run for the Defender’s first year.

“We’re taking orders now. The indicative pricing is $70,000 for the D200 Land Rover 110. We’re only launching the 110 now, and the 90 will be late in 2020,” Jaguar Land Rover spokesman James Scrimshaw told carsales in Frankfurt.

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“We always have a First Edition for the first 12 months, but we don’t know yet what’s in it. We are many months away. We’ll probably know the detail in late January or February.”

The pricing structure for the reincarnated Defender is a reflection of Land Rover’s commitment to its born-again hero, which is completely new for the first time in 71 years.

No-one at Land Rover wants to get anything wrong on the Defender and that is reflected in everything from the car’s design and mechanical package to a massive range of accessories and even a LEGO scale replica.

“Just remember one thing. The new Defender had to be designed for a world that’s changed beyond recognition,” said Gerry McGovern, design guru at Land Rover, as he introduced the car ahead of its public reveal at the Frankfurt motor show.

“The time has come at last. We have a unique heritage. We’ve come from the jungle and now we’re operating in the urban jungle.”

McGovern’s Defender looks like a British Bulldog in its stance and it’s a similar story with everything inside the skin.

It’s been designed and tested over 1.2 million kilometres for 45-degree slope climbing, 900mm water crossings, a three-person front seat, but also a future with mild and plug-in hybrids.

Most dramatically, it has a monocoque body and not a traditional body-on-frame package. And the drag co-efficient is, for the Bulldog, a reasonable 0.38Cd.

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Shoppers will be able to choose from three engines – 147kW and 177kW four-cylinder turbo-diesels and a 294kW turbo-petrol straight-six that also has a 48-volt mild-hybrid system — and seven body colours, plus a choice of five, six or seven seats, and 12 different wheels including 18-inch steel rims.

From there, the choices explode down four equipment paths -- from Adventure to Urban – and with 170 individual accessories.

Scrimshaw says the most-popular options will be bundled into four dealer-fitted packs, although the detail on that program is still being finalised.

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But he promises a simplified Defender line-up that will mirror the recent culling of the Velar range from 64 to 12 variants.

“We’ll be much more organised. We’re trying to put everything together to make it easier for customers to understand. We need to have the right cars for the customers at the right time.”

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Written byPaul Gover
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