After several years of development and rigorous testing, Land Rover officially revealed the next-gen Defender at the 2019 Frankfurt Motor Show last month. Now, it has been spied getting tested on the Indian roads yet again, following its initial sighting in May 2019.
The next-gen Land Rover Defender has been built from grounds up and sports a very modern, neo-retro design with an aim to look like a sophisticated lifestyle product with a classic no-frills off-roading appeal. The long stretched body of the spied unit simply suggests that it is the 5-door version (Defender 110). For the uninitiated, it will be offered in two versions, a 5-door version (Defender 110) initially, and then, a smaller 3-door version (Defender 90) will be introduced in the market in the later stage. For India, the longer 5-door version (Defender 110) has been reserved.
In terms of exterior looks, the next-gen Defender has evolved into a much sophisticated and rugged-looking SUV. Though the design change is revolutionary and needs no comparison, it carries certain design elements from the previous-gen model such as squared-off wheel arches, proper upright stance, and the short front and rear overhangs.
The 2020 Land Rover Defender features a 900 mm maximum wading depth, a 38-degree approach angle, a 40-degree departure angle, 291 mm of ground clearance and 300 kg roof load and up to 3,500kg towing capability. Inside, it gets a vast flat-top dashboard that has been cast from magnesium alloy. The company says that the dashboard has been placed low to boost visibility. It sports a 10.0-inch screen with Pivi Pro which is claimed to be more intuitive and user-friendly to use. Land Rover also says that this system requires 50% lesser inputs to perform frequent tasks when compared to the previous system.
The 2020 Land Rover Defender is based on the D7x platform and is claimed to have the stiffest body structure to be ever produced by Land Rover. Albeit, it uses a reworked version of existing modular architecture, it is still 95% new. This platform has been designed to support a variety of powertrains including mild-hybrids.
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Initially, it will be offered only with four- and six-cylinder diesel and petrol engines but a plug-in hybrid variant will also join the list in the future. The 300 PS P300 four-cylinder unit and the 400 PS P400 six-cylinder engine will be the petrol options, while 200 PS D200 and the 240 PS D240 units (both four-cylinder) will be the diesel engine options.Previous report hints that 2020 Land Rover Defender will launch in India in late-2020.
[Image Source: Gaurav Indu]
