Land Rover Defender 2015 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.

The rush to get one of Land Rover's last Defenders has reached frenzied proportions as the company prepares to bring down the curtain on one of the great chapters in automotive history.

The iconic Land Rover Defender may be in its twighlight after more than half a century of production, but that isn’t stopping the UK brand from applying some final tweaks and upgrades ahead of its all-new replacement due within the next few years.Land Rover will unveil a host of new Defender features at next month’s Geneva motor show, led by the inclusion of stability control for the first time and new ‘Black Pack’ and ‘Silver Pack’ option packages.The Black Pack brings Santorini black detailing to the roof, grille and headlight surrounds, wheelarches, Defender bonnet logo and interior facia. Tinted windows and black headlining help complete the sinister look, along with a choice of gloss black steel or sawtooth alloy wheels.The Silver Pack replaces the Black Pack’s black detailing with silver, and adds silver five-spoke alloys and clear taillights and indicators.Both come with contrasting leather trim that is now optional across the board, with tinted windows, silver painted running board also joining the options list.The 2015 model-year changes will be available from July 2014 production, and will also see stability control feature as standard on all Defender 90 and 110 models, adding to the existing ABS and traction control. Long-wheelbase Defender 130 models will also be available with ABS for the first time, but not the new stability control system.Land Rover is yet to announce local timing or pricing for the 2015 Defender upgrades, but we’d expect to see them in showrooms before the end of the year.This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

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  

It features in the latest Bond film, has been driven by Angelina Jolie and is a firm favourite of the Queen, but Land Rover will have to stop producing their Defender model – after it fell foul of new European laws on fuel emissions. The last Land Rover Defender will be made at Solihull in the West Midlands in December 2015 by Jaguar Land Rover. The company are now working on a replacement to try and adapt the car to meet the EU’s new emissions rules. The royal relationship with Land Rover goes back to 1948 when King George VI viewed the original Land Rover – which was based on wartime jeeps. The Queen took delivery of her first one shortly after coming to the throne in 1952. The company currently holds a royal warrant and the Queen is regularly seen behind the wheel of a trusty Defender as she drives around her estates at Sandringham and Balmoral. A Jaguar Land Rover spokesman said: "Production of Defender will stop at the end of 2015. A replacement vehicle will join the Land Rover range, but the Defender in its current format is coming to an end." The departure of the current Defender will be echoed by other major changes in the Land Rover line-up, with a new baby version of the Discovery arriving the same year to replace the Freelander. Official details of the new arrival have not been revealed, but are expected to start trickling out closer to the vehicle’s unveiling – tipped to be a the Geneva motor show in March 2014.  

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.