Land Rover Defender Mule Spotted Testing in the Cold

Stephen Elmer / January 10, 2018

A brand new Land Rover Defender is in development and yet another strange looking mule has been spotted testing.

While the body may look like it’s from a Range Rover Sport, don’t let that fool you, because underneath lies the platform for the new Discovery. Thanks to the short wheelbase, we can surmise that this is the three-door Defender 90 model.

When it comes to fruition, it is expected that the Defender will share much of its DNA with the rest of the Land Rover lineup, which means that independent suspension all around and possibly even a unibody architecture are in store for the most off-road capable Land Rover. That also means that airbag suspension will be supporting the Defender to make sure it can still handle on the trail.

Powertrains for the new Defender are unknown, though we already know that electrification will be part of every single Land Rover by 2020, so expect some type of hybrid to be available in the Defender.

“We won’t do it until it’s legitimate,” said JLR’s global product marketing director, Finbar Mcfall. “We’re going to do it, and you’ll like it,” finished Mcfall, a promise from JLR that we like.

Rumor has it that beyond the basic Defender model, Land Rover is also preparing a high-performance SVO model along with a hardcord off-road version that will get the SVX badge.

We don’t expect to see the new Defender until sometime later this year, with a launch scheduled for 2019.