In what appears to be a carefully staged quasi-reveal, the design of the new Land Rover Defender – a model that's been touted and talked about for seemingly a decade – has been revealed via the first ‘spy shots’ published by Autocar.
Way back in April 2013, Land Rover's fiery chief designer Gerry McGovern said the new Defender would "…will be incredibly distinctive".
"You’ll look at it and you’ll say ‘That is a Defender’ and there’ll be nothing else like it," he stated.
"This car will be the absolute dog’s bollocks."
Now the first images of a camouflaged prototype, shot near JLR’s UK base and wearing the hashtag #BEST4X4XFAR, show it will sport an exceedingly boxy design like its predecessor, which can trace its lineage back to the 1948 Land Rover Series I.
But any hopes for a retro-inspired, hard-core off-road aesthetic appear to have been dashed. The tall, narrow-ish silhouette of the original Defender has been replaced by a family-friendly design that's wider and lower as the brand seeks to expand the vehicle's reach beyond hard-core adventurers and off-road buyers.
There are classic Defender design cues like a square-edged clamshell bonnet, but there’s also every chance this five-door wagon will blend in with the rest of the SUV brigade when parked at the shopping mall.
The new Land Rover Defender will be visually closer to the Land Rover Discovery and its second cousins, the Range Rover Sport and Velar, rather than its predecessor -- but this is a calculated gamble.
Land Rover wants to broaden the appeal of its first new Defender in decades and it’s tipped to spawn a number of variants beyond this five-door variant.
Expect a short-wheelbase three-door version, potentially with a Jeep Wrangler-like removable roof, and although a ute or pick-up derivative is less likely, it's still understood to be under study.
No new details apart from its blunt, slab-sided design have emerged since the British SUV brand started circulating its specially camouflaged Land Rover Defender in recent weeks, allowing savvy photographers to snap the car ad infinitum.
We know it will be based on a similar aluminium platform to the Land Rover Discovery, ushering in oodles of high-tech gizmos and also independent suspension at all four corners. This means it will be a better urban navigator but off-road purists may scoff.
Engine options are expected to include four- and six-cylinder petrol and diesel mills, along with hybrid options. Expect the new Land Rover Defender to be fully revealed in 2019, before rolling into showrooms a year later.