Y
long over, of course. The all-new
D e fe nde r i s ju s t w e e k s aw ay f r om
its grand unveiling to the press
and public, and production is all
set to start. It’ll be rolling off a
pr o duc t ion l i ne i n Slov a k i a – t h at
much we already know. And it’ll be
a different sort of Defender from
the one that bowed out in Solihull
in 2016 after nearly seven decades
of almost continuous production. It
was always going to be so: but how
much different? Now’s our chance to
at least begin to find out.
We’ll get technical chapter and
verse on the car soon enough, Land
Rover insists, when the official
pictures are revealed and the pricesare announced and the order books
open – finally. Until then, the firm
is spinning out what remains of
the quite monumental sense of
anticipation that’s been swirling
around this car for just a little while
longer – although it was good enough
to answer what questions I could
think to ask while being reacquainted
with The Developing World track
one English puddle, pothole, rut and
bump after another.
The first thing you can think to
ask, noting how well the suspension
ou don’t have far to
go f r om L a nd R ov e r ’s
UK headquarters
these days to find the
developing world. This
is not, rest assured, because Brexit
i s bit i n g pa r t ic u l a rl y h a rd a r ou nd
the English Midlands and property
prices in leafy Leamington Spa
have suddenly taken a drastic turn
( he av e n forbid). It ’s a c t u a l l y b e c au s e
there’s a rutted, ridge-strewn,
pothole-ridden lane, made of gravel
and mud and sand, at JLR’s head
office proving ground, that’s called
the Developing World test track –
a nd it ’s i nt e nde d t o b e not u n l i k e t he
kind of roads a Land Rover might
be called upon to use anywhere
f r om K i s a n ga n i t o K ol k at a , v i a
the rougher agricultural spots of
Kettering and the Kielder Forest.
And right now, wouldn’t you
know it, there’s even a Land Rover
on it. A real one. The Land Rover,
you might say – and certainly so as
far as anyone in product planning
at the British firm is concerned. It is
the direct descendent of the car with
which the company was founded:
‘L663’, or the all-new Defender.
And as you join us, it is being driven
pr e t t y h a rd b y L a nd R ov e r ’s A nd y
Deeks, product engineering team
leader for durability and reliability,
right over the aforementioned ruts,
bumps, ridges and potholes.
Andy is driving quite sternly –
angrily, you might even say, like a
man with a point to prove. All the
while he’s explaining that, while
doing the data capture that is crucial
to the engineering development of
this car, his engineers drove harder
still, doing their best to torture
every rattle, wobble, shudder, clunk,
squeak and eventual component
failure from this car in order to pin
them down and chase them out of
the finished product, one by one.
T he y s e e m t o h av e done t h at pr e t t y
well, at least as far as I can tell from
where I’m sitting – although I’ve
on l y b e e n he r e i n t he pa s s e n ge r s e at
for a few minutes.
That chasing process is now
Deeks (^) (on right) giv
es
Saunders as much tec
h
detail as he’s allowed t
o
SUSPENSION
All-independent
multi-link at both ends,
with strengthened links,
uprated bushes and ball joints
and new subframes above
them. Steel coils as standard;
height-adjustable air
suspension will be
optional.
DRIVETRAIN
Technically to be
confirmed, but ZF’s
eight-speed auto is highly
likely, with active locking diffs
on both axles for those that
want ’em, and a bespoke
‘Terrain Response’
traction control
set-up.
44 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 7 AUGUST 2019