Land Rover Defender 2010 News

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has announced its latest round of national recalls, with models from Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Kia, Land Rover and Ram impacted.

The 68-year run of the classic Land Rover ends in Australia next month. For now.

Land Rover's new generation Defender is expected to arrive in 2016, and it seems a trayback derivative will be not far behind it. The design director for Land Rover and sub-brand Range Rover, Gerry McGovern, has indicated a new pick-up/ute could appear in 2017, according to UK publication 'What Car?' McGovern reportedly said the Land Rover ute would be a premium vehicle, targeting the upmarket positioning of the Volkswagen Amarok rather than the base-model workhorse market. However it's already been suggested the ute will roll on a permanent four-wheel drive platform and draw on Land Rover's tough offroad ability -- which long made it a vehicle of choice for military and aid organisations entering conflict zones. In fact the reputation and the archaic design of the Defender are such that the vehicle almost stands as its own sub-brand -- albeit something of  a Jurassic marque -- in the Land Rover stable. There's no indication yet of the design for the new ute, and little for the next-gen Defender that will seed it. McGovern admitted at the launch of the DC100 concept that kickstarted the design process in 2011 that replacing the Defender was "one of the biggest challenges in the automotive design world". The Defender's main battle recently has been to add revisions and upgrades that allow it to meet tightening emissions regulations and growing consumer safety and technology feature expectations, while still retaining its tough, go-anywhere attitude. Purists mourned when the Defender's dashboard vents -- opening straight to the outside world -- were dropped in 2007, but took solace from the then upstart new-fangled model still being as slab-sided and largely as basic as the old-fangled one. They would have been relieved at McGovern's reassurance that the DC100 and the ute-like DC100 Sport were just design studies, and far from what would eventually go on sale. But we're still yet to see just how far the Defender has come, and with the ute, how far it can go. This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

The ADF this week took delivery of nine G-Wagen models, which are part of a 1200-strong order placed in 1998.  The Austrian built G-Wagens will eventually replace the current fleet of British Land Rover Defender models currently used for cross country work.They are part of the Project Overlander program, under which 7000 field and land vehicles and trailers will be sourced between 2011 and 2018.  The ADF is yet to announce which medium and heavy vehicles it plans to purchase under the program.It has recently tested trucks from MAN, BAE Systems, Thales Australia, Oshkosh and Mercedes at its Townsville and Puckapunyal to select the most appropriate vehicle.  The Mercedes models on test included an armoured four-wheel drive and six-wheel drive versions of the Zetros and the armoured eight-wheel drive Actros.The nine Mercedes G-Wagens, which join two models that were handed over to the ADF in Austria late last year, will be tested thoroughly to check for any gremlins before full production of the fleet cranks up later this year.  Mercedes will supply the ADF with several different versions of the G-Wagen including a four-wheel drive wagon, a four-wheel drive cab-chassis, six-wheel drive single cab and six-wheel drive dual-cabs.As part of the ADF push to have more equipment sourced direct from the factory, Mercedes will also offer a armour kits for all vehicles.  Australian engineering company G.H Varley will fit out many of the vehicles with custom-made modules which will be detachable. These will allow the G-Wagens to be used for a range of tasks including the transfer of munitions, carry troops or be used as an ambulance.The ADF says using detachable modular unit design has evolved since World War II and allows for increased flexibility and reduces the need for purpose built vehicles that can only be used for limited duties.   The military G-Wagen models, made at the Magna Steyr plant in Graz, Austria, run can carry up to two tonnes and have a range of 600km to 800km.They run a 3.0-litre common rail V6 which complies with Euro 5 emission standards and has an average fuel consumption figure of 13.7 litres per 100km.  The ADF plans to fit the vehicles with electronic vehicle diagnostic systems to monitor the fleet and properly maintain it, a first within the Force.

To be eligible for 4WD Of The Year, a vehicle has to be completely new that year, or significantly revised. By 'significantly revised' we mean a major mechanical change like a new engine or drivetrain, or a new body. Styling, equipment or interior facelifts don't cut the mustard.To be eligible, the vehicle in question also has to have a full-size spare wheel either as standard, or available as an option. No full-size spare equals no start. On this count, the Peugeot 4007, Volvo XC60, Audi Q5 and Mitsubishi Outlander were all eliminated automatically.That left a number of other soft-roaders that do come with a full-size spare to consider. These included the Kia Sorento, Hyundai Santa Fe, Lexus RX350, Lexus RX400h and the Nissan Murano. The fact that so many new soft roaders didn't go down the space-saver route is good news but at the end of the day they are still soft roaders and with so many strong candidates among the ranks of the serious 4WDs, we couldn't warrant their inclusion.The new 'serious' 4WDs included the Prado 150 Series, the Land Rover Discovery 4, the Range Rover Sport and Vogue, the new Land Rover Defender variants, the ML Series Triton, and the revised Jeep Wrangler.   Further culling of the numbers saw the Wrangler and the Defender eliminated on the grounds that they are both variations on well-known themes while the Range Rover Vogue, with its new petrol 5.0-litre V8, was deemed to be too expensive in relation to the new Range Rover Sport with its new 3.0-litre TDV6.In the end it came down to the Discovery 4 with its new TDV6 engine (in SE spec), the Range Rover Sport with the same engine (only one spec level), the top-spec ML Triton as this is the only model with all the new features as standard, and the Prado in both petrol and diesel guise. To us, these five vehicles represented an extremely strong field … a classic Land Rover verses Toyota battle with the wildcard Triton thrown in.Find out which vehicle won in Australia’s leading offroad magazine, Overlander, on sale Wednesday Jan 27.

Despite a depressed vehicle market and the entrenched dominance of Japanese off-roaders, Land Rover Australia has delivered a vote of confidence in its trusty off-roader by broadening its Defender range from two models to eight.The 2010 model lineup now includes five 110 wheelbase (for 110-inch) and three 130 wheelbase models, specifically targeting serious off-road users and commercial buyers with its heavy duty 4x4 ute and cab-chassis models.Land Rover Australian spokesman, Guido Schenken, says there is strong interest from rural, mining and tradies for more Defender variants."Particularly with the potential heavy duty carrying capacity," he says.Prices kick off at $45,990 for the Defender 110 hard top and single cab chassis, rising to $53,490 for the 130 crew cab high capacity pick up (HCPU).The $48,990 four-door 110 station wagon, identified by its safari-style windows in the roof, is responsible for delivering a modest sales spike for Land Rover over the past 18 months and wagon sales have grown 4.5 per cent this year.The wagon, which has an optional $2000 seven-seat capacity, is now joined by the 110 four-door crew cab pickup. Both have air-conditioning, traction control, alloys, locking wheel nuts and electric front windows. A new two-door 110 hard top is based on the station wagon and gets a single CD player, air conditioning and electric front windows.Visually it also has a black grille, wheelarches and headlight surrounds, white steel wheels and roof. It also has rear sliding rear windows.Also new is the 110 single cab chassis, which has the same specification as the hard top, as well as the 110 single cab high capacity pick up (HCPU), which gets a rear canopy.The 130 crew cab chassis carries over unchanged but is now joined by the 130 single cab chassis and 130 crew cab HCPU fitted with a well side body and canopy.The 130 single cab chassis is fitted with heavy duty suspension and extended tray that can carry 1500kg with a GVM of 3500kg.Schenken has also not ruled out a return of the short-wheelbase Defender 90, which was available out of South Africa a few years ago. "We're continually looking at it," Schenken says.All 2010 Defenders are powered by a 2.4-litre 16-valve common-rail four-cylinder turbo diesel shared with the Ford Transit. The engine develops 90kW at 2200 revs and 360Nm at 2000 revs.All models get a permanent dual-range four-wheel drive system with locking centre differential.The Defender dates back to 1948 when the Series I was launch. Almost 1.9 million have been sold globally in more than 100 countries.