The 2021 Land Rover Defender is coming. Viewed testing in disguis by countless outlets and fans – the upcoming Defender is hardly a secret. Details on its underpinnings are rather hush-hush though.
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Way back in 1948, at a hanger in Amsterdam, (71 years ago) – the first Land Rover (Series Model) debuted. This is the “official” 71st birthday of the event. As such, JLR leaked out a tiny bit of information.
By “information” we mean some photos and vague tidbits of PR jargon.
The original Land Rover was never intended to come to the United States, we did get the Defender (its grandchild) in 1993. It was frame-based, with solid front and rear axles. Power came from a 3.9-litre V8 gas engine and a five-speed manual transmission hooked up to a LT230 transfer case.
It was outstanding off-road, only the Jeep Wrangler could better it on hard terrain. The Land Rover Defender was higher scale, provided tons of configurations and was popular with the affluent. Pretty much, everything the Wrangler wasn’t.
The new one is a completely different beast.
Slated to debut in December 2019, perhaps at the Frankfurt Motor Show, the 2021 Land Rover Defender will come in a short wheelbase and long-wheelbase configuration. It does not appear that the 2021 Land Rover Defender will have a removable top
Nothing is known about its power-plant(s). There’s a good chance that small-displacement turbocharged engines will be involved. Even a diesel and, possibly a plug-in hybrid could be in the mix.
From what we can see in the numerous photos taken of both versions, they have a four-wheel independent suspension. That, and a unibody platform are major differences from the original. Sophisticated traction control and terrain management systems would most likely be part of the package too.
According to Land Rover, they have already done over 1.2-million kilometers (over 745,000 miles) of testing in the new Land Rover Defender.
In this video, Andre and Tommy talk about the facts and speculation revolving around the upcoming 2021 Land Rover Defender.