Land Rover launched the iconic Defender SUV in India earlier this year with a sole 300hp 2.0L turbo-petrol engine. At the time of the launch, Rohit Suri, President & Managing Director, Jaguar Land Rover India, had said that there are more engine options for the Defender in the pipeline for India. Now, the company has opened bookings for the Land Rover Defender plug-in hybrid in India. The Defender hybrid will however only be offered as the 5-door 110 variant in India.
While Land Rover offers both the 3-door 90 and the f-door 110 versions of the Defender with the regular petrol engine in India, the shorter wheelbase 90 version will not be available as a plug-in hybrid. The Land Rover Defender plug-in hybrid variant will come in four variants in India - SE, HSE, and the new X-Dynamic HSE and X trims - the latter two being exclusive to the hybrid variants. The X-Dynamic HSE and X trims essentially get a few cosmetic changes with gloss black wheels and blacked-out rocker panels along with a ‘Silicon Satin’ skid plates.
Also Read : Land Rover Defender Gets A 5-Star Safety Rating From Euro NCAP
Under the hood, the Defender hybrid continues with the 300hp 2.0L turbo-petrol engine. However, the engine now comes coupled to a 143hp electric motor which derives its power from a 19.2kWh battery pack. The total output of the powertrain thus now stands at 404hp and 640Nm. The Defender hybrid is also a pretty swift SUV for its size and weight given that it can do the 0-100kph sprint in just 5.6 seconds, primarily due to the immediate torque boost from the electric motor. Top-speed of the SUV is rated at 209kph.
But a hybrid Defender is certainly not about it's performance. Instead, its all about leaving lesser carbon footprint and for that, the Defender can do a distance of 43 km on electric power alone. That's enough to get you through most of your regular city commuting. Land Rover will even install a 7.4 kW AC wall box charger at your convenient location without any added costs. It takes about two hours to charge the batteries from 0-80% using the AC wall box charger.
However, the Land Rover Defender plug-in hybrid variant sure wouldn't come cheap. Prices for the base variant are expected to cost around INR 1 crore (ex-showroom) with top-end variants well exceeding the crore mark. Deliveries are expected to begin from April-2021 and we expect the prices to be announced closer to that date. Land Rover also sells the Defender with a diesel engine abroad and the carmaker could bring in this engine at a later point to India as well.
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