Photo: SB-Medien
Can you imagine the kind of pressure engineers and designers working on bringing the Land Rover Defender badge into the modern world have to deal with? As it turns out, the task has led to the birth of a petite test mule whose adorable appearance might just be a solution to all that stress.
This is the first time we get to see Land Rover testing the new generation of the Defender. And the prototype we have here looks like a child's drawing of an uber-compact Range Rover Sport, which explains the more or less functional tiny rear door.
As with the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, whose first all-new generation since the original debuts this year (here are some leaked photos), we'll get to see the Defender leaving its aging mechanical side behind.
We're expecting an aluminum structure derived from the PLA platform that can be found under the Discovery and the Range Rover, with the most obvious change coming from the wheelbase drop - it remains to be seen whether the new car will follow its predecessor in terms of being offered in multiple length versions.
Aside from the obvious Ingenium gas and diesel mills, the new Defender is expected to come in plug-in hybrid form, while an all-electric incarnation of the vehicle is also in the cards.
Thus, while this prototype packs the new tech bits of the Brit, you shouldn't trust the RRS body panels. Perhaps the DC100 concept cars, which landed back in 2011, have remained a strong hint for the actual design of the new Defender.
Unlike in the case of the Gelandewagen, though, Land Rover has confirmed that it won't be playing the retro card for the newcomer.
The timeline of this tale should've seen the carmaker introducing the new Defender in 2015, but it seems that Land Rover couldn't make up its mind on the new traits of the car.
2016 saw the automaker retiring the old Defender, with safety and emission regulations sealing the fate of the offroading icon.
Regardless, the new Defender should land next year, with the vehicle coming as a 2020 model.
As with the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, whose first all-new generation since the original debuts this year (here are some leaked photos), we'll get to see the Defender leaving its aging mechanical side behind.
We're expecting an aluminum structure derived from the PLA platform that can be found under the Discovery and the Range Rover, with the most obvious change coming from the wheelbase drop - it remains to be seen whether the new car will follow its predecessor in terms of being offered in multiple length versions.
Aside from the obvious Ingenium gas and diesel mills, the new Defender is expected to come in plug-in hybrid form, while an all-electric incarnation of the vehicle is also in the cards.
Thus, while this prototype packs the new tech bits of the Brit, you shouldn't trust the RRS body panels. Perhaps the DC100 concept cars, which landed back in 2011, have remained a strong hint for the actual design of the new Defender.
Unlike in the case of the Gelandewagen, though, Land Rover has confirmed that it won't be playing the retro card for the newcomer.
The timeline of this tale should've seen the carmaker introducing the new Defender in 2015, but it seems that Land Rover couldn't make up its mind on the new traits of the car.
2016 saw the automaker retiring the old Defender, with safety and emission regulations sealing the fate of the offroading icon.
Regardless, the new Defender should land next year, with the vehicle coming as a 2020 model.
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