Photo: Stefan Baldauf/SB-Medien
It’s not that often a Defender hits the Nurburgring, let alone a pre-production prototype for the 2020 model year. Spied in Defender 110 flavor, the seven-seat SUV will be introduced in October 2019 according to a recent Land Rover presentation.
March 2020 is when the Defender 90 will roll out, and further still, August 2020 is when the Defender 130 will introduce the eight-seat layout. A slide from the presentation reveals that the 130 doesn’t feature a full-size spare wheel attached to the tailgate. The 3,022-millimeter wheelbase is shared with the 110 while overall length increases from 4,758 to 5,100 to millimeters.
The pictured prototype features at least two forward-facing cameras in front of the rearview mirror, joined by two sensors for good measure. The door handles aren’t flush with the doors as it’s the case with the Velar, but on the upside, the conventional design is less problematic in freezing weather.
Further back the vehicle, the tailgate handle is located on the left-hand side of the spare wheel while the exhaust system features two tailpipes. This leads us to believe the prototype utilizes a six-cylinder engine, either a turbo diesel or the gasoline-fueled Ingenium straight-six labeled P400 in this application.
Four-cylinder options are also coming, including the P400e plug-in hybrid. Regardless of powertrain, the Defender comes standard with all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission. Regarding the latter, the 8HP eight-speed transmission from ZF Friedrichshafen seems to be the most likely culprit.
The Modular Longitudinal Architecture the Defender utilizes is a unibody design that Range Rover will borrow for the next generations of the full-size model and of the Sport. In other words, an eight-cylinder mill could be introduced at some point in the future as Land Rover did with the Defender Works V8. At the other end of the spectrum, the MLA is also capable of complete electrification.
Pricing information remains a mystery at this point, but the 2020 Defender is sure to be more expensive than the preceding generation. So far, Land Rover confirmed the Defender will be commercialized in the United States and China in addition to the United Kingdom and Europe.
The pictured prototype features at least two forward-facing cameras in front of the rearview mirror, joined by two sensors for good measure. The door handles aren’t flush with the doors as it’s the case with the Velar, but on the upside, the conventional design is less problematic in freezing weather.
Further back the vehicle, the tailgate handle is located on the left-hand side of the spare wheel while the exhaust system features two tailpipes. This leads us to believe the prototype utilizes a six-cylinder engine, either a turbo diesel or the gasoline-fueled Ingenium straight-six labeled P400 in this application.
Four-cylinder options are also coming, including the P400e plug-in hybrid. Regardless of powertrain, the Defender comes standard with all-wheel drive and an automatic transmission. Regarding the latter, the 8HP eight-speed transmission from ZF Friedrichshafen seems to be the most likely culprit.
The Modular Longitudinal Architecture the Defender utilizes is a unibody design that Range Rover will borrow for the next generations of the full-size model and of the Sport. In other words, an eight-cylinder mill could be introduced at some point in the future as Land Rover did with the Defender Works V8. At the other end of the spectrum, the MLA is also capable of complete electrification.
Pricing information remains a mystery at this point, but the 2020 Defender is sure to be more expensive than the preceding generation. So far, Land Rover confirmed the Defender will be commercialized in the United States and China in addition to the United Kingdom and Europe.
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