Land Rover Defender 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.

There's always a great deal of interest any time one of the cars used in a 007 movie is offered for sale. And you can probably multiply that by 59 times for the collection of Bond vehicles owned by US real estate mogul Michael Dezer.Dezer is known for  development on a grand scale: nearly the entire suburb of Chelsea in NewYork, and several massive projects in Florida including partnerships with Donald Trump for the 900 million Trump Towers, $600 million Trump Grande Ocean Resort and Residences and the $166 million Trump International Hotel and Tower.And Florida is also where he garages his collection of 1800 vehicles, including the 59 genuine Bond ones he's selling, each of which has appeared in one of the movies.The catch is that Dezer insists they be bought as one lot, for US$33 million ($37 million). But the buyer will have a fairly comprehensive sample across the Bond series.Among the 59 are a Fairey Huntress boat used in 1963's From Russia With Love and an Audi A5 and Land Rover Defender used in the most recent film, Skyfall, for the kickstarter car chase scenes.From films in between, there are a brace of Aston Martin DB5 coupes, one of which helmed by Pierce Brosnan for Goldeneye -- and the Russian T55 tank from the film. The famed Lotus Esprit S1 that morphed into a submarine in The Spy Who Loved Me is also one of star vehicles, as are the armoured and armed BMW 750iL from Tomorrow Never Dies, and the Jaguar XKR from Die Another Day.There are also more everyday wheels, including the Citroen 2CV from For Your Eyes Only, and a replica of the AMC Hornet from The Man With The Golden Gun. The collection has been on display at the Dezer Musuem in Miami, and it's likely the buyer will do something similar once the deal is done.And while it will make a little space in the Dezer garage, there are still plenty of interesting cars staying there, including the 1948 Ford from Grease,  the 1981 DeLorean from Back to the Future, the Ghostbusters 1959 Cadillac, an original Batmobile, the Lamborghini Social Experiment Project AU 79, and many, many more.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

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  

Not only does this dude think he’s above the road laws, but above the laws of human decency and common sense as well. Accelerating at horses, careering among pedestrians and children on a footpath, skimming past traffic on the shoulder, barging through a crowded pedestrian crossing … it seems he’ll stop at nothing – and for nothing.The vehicle’s bonnet suggests he’s in a UAZ Hunter, the Russian equivalent of a Land Rover Defender designed for military use, which means he can take it just about anywhere. And because he can, he does. Not only that, but he’s so proud of his lunatic driving, he’s posted this compilation video to show off his attitude.Reports suggest the driver is allegedly Andrey Rybakin, a Moscow-based car fan who posts self-starring videos he believes are a Russian version of Top Gear. His Facebook page includes several other clips and photos of a range of equally dangerous stunts under the name 'Rybakin Taxis'. We’d generally never wish a car crash on anybody, but nobody would be sorry to see this psychotic driver get some bad luck.Watch Russia’s proud psycho driver video here. 

We've seen plenty of vehicle comparisons done as head-to-heads, but this time it's a back-to-back as a Land Rover Defender and a Dodge Ram pick-up battle for supremacy in a tug-of-war.The American-built Ram has more under the bonnet, with all the power and torque of a massive 5.9-litre V8 diesel engine to tackle the 2.5-litre diesel of the British Defender.However, the Land Rover has the advantages of an arsenal of down-and-dirty offroad kit: differential locks, permanent all-wheel drive, a manual gearbox and a more even distribution of weight across its axles.But perhaps more importantly, in this case it clearly has the benefit of better driver technique. There's no more clever way to win a tug of war than to let your opponent spin up their wheels first and lose all their traction advantage.Sadly, the reign of the Defender as we know it is coming to a close, with Land Rover recently announcing it will cease production in December 2015. Its successor is likely to appear a year or two later -- and we're pretty sure we'll see a tug-of-war rematch between the newcomer and rivals.See the Land Rover Defender vs Dodge Ram tug-of-war video here.www.motorauthority.com 

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.  

News has emerged that development of a Land Rover Defender successor -- after close to three decades -- has been delayed.Land Rover first previewed its next-generation Defender with its DC100 concept in 2011 and shortly after confirmed that a production version would arrive in 2015.Around the same time, reports emerged claiming Land Rover was planning a whole range of Defender variants including a low-cost version likely to be built in India.Now, Land Rover global brand director John Edwards has revealed to Autocar that the new Defender won’t be ready by 2015. The existing Defender, however, will still be phased out in 2015 due to tougher emissions regulations coming into play.Edwards didn’t reveal why the new Defender was being delayed, though it’s thought that a switch to Land Rover’s PLA aluminum platform found in upmarket Range Rover models is the likely cause. This means that the new Defender will likely remain a premium product and keep its off-road prowess.The DC100 concept had its own bespoke platform, though one derived from that used in the Range Rover Evoque and Freelander 2 models. Going premium also means that the new Defender could be built profitably in the UK instead of having to be sourced from low-cost countries such as India.www.motorauthority.com