2011 dc100 concept
Marton Pettendy21 Dec 2017
NEWS

New Land Rover Defender to go electric

Land’s Rover’s all-new Defender to appear within a year; will be available with all-electric power

Get ready for a revolution when Land Rover’s first new Defender in a quarter of a century makes its world debut in final production form by this time next year.

The British off-road brand has told Autocar it will reveal the all-new replacement for its most iconic model as the centerpiece of its 70th anniversary celebrations in late 2018, before it goes on sale globally in 2019.

Much has been written about the new Land Rover icon, which replaces a model that went out of production almost two years ago – 67 years after the original 1948 Land Rover Series I it’s derived from -- but the company has been silent about it since it showed the polarising DC100 concepts more than five years ago in 2011.

Now, motoring.com.au can confirm the new Defender will be available for the first time with an all-electric powertrain.

That’s right, apart from traditional combustion engines for conventional versions, Land Rover’s most utilitarian and most off-road capable model will be offered with at least one electric motor backed by a powerful battery pack.

No further details were provided by our senior Jaguar Land Rover source, but the ground-breaking news is consistent with JLR’s commitment to electrify every model in its range from 2020.

But the Defender will go beyond the mild-hybrid (MHEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrains to be offered in other JLR models by being a full battery-electric vehicle (BEV).

Electric pioneers
JLR revealed its first PHEV, the plug-in Range Rover Sport, just last month, but its first BEV will be next year’s all-new Jaguar I-PACE -- a dedicated pure-electric crossover that could provide clues to the Defender EV powertrain.

A direct rival for the upcoming Audi e-tron quattro and Mercedes-Benz EQ, the full-size electric SUV is claimed to deliver a 500km range thanks to a 150kW/350Nm electric motor for each axle, providing all-wheel drive and total outputs of around 300kW and 700Nm.

Jaguar says the I-PACE’s lithium-ion battery will take just two hours to fully charge via a 50kW fast-charging DC station, or 90 minutes to charge it to 80 per cent.

Although the Defender EV represents a significant change of course for the hallowed off-road brand, Land Rover has tested battery-powered versions of the Defender for years and even showed a Defender EV prototype at the 2013 Geneva motor show.

However, Land Rover’s first EV is expected to be the all-new ‘Road Rover’ – a fourth sub-brand or “pillar” for the brand alongside Defender, Discovery and Range Rover.

Due on sale by the end of the decade, the first in a family of Road Rover models is expected to offer Mercedes-Benz S-Class levels of luxury in a crossover body brandishing at least some off-road capability.

Whole EV family
Other pure-electric JLR models will follow, including Jaguar’s next-generation XJ limousine and F-TYPE sports car, which will be produced exclusively with electric powertrains.

Meantime, there will be mid-hybrid solutions for models like the second-generation Evoque (codenamed L551), which is also due in 2019.

The majority of Defender vehicles are expected to be powered conventional petrol and diesel engines from JLR’s Ingenium line-up.

However, the Defender EV – along with the Range Rover PHEV, Road Rover EV and Jaguar I-PACE, F-TYPE and XJ EVs – is aimed squarely at meeting stringent new Zero-Emission Vehicle (ZEV) sales targets in markets like California, which has called for 1.5 million electric or hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles on its roads by 2025.

According to Autocar, JLR will need to ensure that somewhere between 16 and 25 per cent of all its sales are of battery-electric cars by 2025 to meet ZEV targets, which are being adopted by at least nine other US states.

Advanced hardware
The new Defender won’t be based on the same all-steel, front/all-wheel drive, transverse-engine D8 chassis architecture that underpins the next Evoque, Land Rover Discovery Sport and Jaguar’s upcoming E-PACE small SUV, or even the steel/aluminium iQ-Al platform residing beneath the Jaguar XE, XF, (next) XJ and F-PACE, and the Range Rover Velar.

Instead, it will be based on another variation of the aluminium platform that underpins the Discovery, Range Rover and Rangie Sport, although it remains to be seen whether – like them and the original Land Rover – it wears aluminium body panels.

Codenamed L663, it will be most closely related to the new Discovery, but it’s unclear whether it will be built alongside the Disco in Slovakia, alongside JLR’s aluminium-bodied models in Solihull or Castle Bromwich (UK), or alongside the E-PACE by contractor Magna Steyr in Austria.

Broader scope
Whatever the case, the new Defender will not only need to retain the go-anywhere capability expected by traditionalists and hard-core off-road enthusiasts, and to compete with fresh competitors like the new Jeep Wrangler and Mercedes-Benz G-Class -- both of which go on sale here next year.

It will also need to offer more refinement and versatility to broaden its audience and appeal to everyday drivers. Land Rover is reportedly targeting up to 100,000 annual sales to make the Defender profitable, which would make it the most popular version ever.

The last Defender topped out at about 20,000 annual sales, but SUV sales are booming and this time it will be sold in the US and Canada, where the current model has failed to meet crash safety regulations since 1997.

Big model range
Helping profitability will be more ‘premium’ pricing and the continuation of a broad model range – once again including two different wheelbases (90- and 110-inch) and two distinct body styles – hard-top and soft-top, with pick-up and cab-chassis ute versions to follow.

Therefore the famous Defender 90 and Defender 110 names will continue, on a variety of variants covering everything from rugged, hose-out models to upmarket and performance versions.

One thing they should have in common is capability, however, with Land Rover expected to compliment the latest Disco’s new Terrain Response II system with class-leading ground clearance and approach, departure and break-over angles, making it the most high-tech Defender ever.

Styling will be controversial, not retro
While Land Rover design chief Gerry McGovern has said the exterior of the new Defender will look nothing like the poorly-welcomed DC100 concept (pictured), last month he told us it will remain “polarising”.

Ruling out a retro-styled reinterpretation of previous Defenders in the vein of the born-again MINI, Fiat 500 and VW Beetle, McGovern has described the exterior design theme, which is expected to follow the rugged Discovery SVX in terms of overall execution, as “premium durability”.

So it seems the new Defender will be a radical departure from tradition not just in terms of price, positioning and design, but powertrain technology too.

Share this article
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalistsMeet the team
Stay up to dateBecome a carsales member and get the latest news, reviews and advice straight to your inbox.
Download the carsales app
    AppStoreDownloadGooglePlayDownload
    App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google LLC.
    © CAR Group Ltd 1999-2024
    In the spirit of reconciliation we acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.