The Camel’s back

Famous Trophy model reinterpreted by Land Rover.

THE classic that Land Rover had to leave behind in order to move forward has risen from the grave – in its most famous guise.

The British brand has announced the Defender Works V8 Trophy, a modified version of the previous generation version of the company’s iconic four-wheel-drive, which stopped fullscale production in 2016 and was replaced last year by a far more modern model.

The ‘new-old’ edition is built by Land Rover Classic and designed to pay homage to the brand’s Camel Trophy-winning off-road racer from 1989, now a highly sought-after collectible. 

Prices start from over $300,000 for the short wheelbase 90 model – and production will be limited to just 25 examples. It is not known if any will go to customers outside of the United Kingdom.

The original Camel Trophy-winning 1989 was powered by a 2.5-litre four-cylinder diesel engine. This new homage features Jaguar Land Rover’s 5.0-litre V8, which outputs 297kW and 515Nm of torque. The engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic gearbox and sends drive to all four wheels via a two-speed transfer box.

Land Rover has added uprated suspension, new anti-roll bars, improved disc brakes with four-piston calipers and heavy-duty 16-inch steel wheels wrapped in mud-terrain tyres.

Buyers also get a range of functional and cosmetic exterior revisions, including a front winch, a roof rack, a snorkel intake and LED spot lamps. There’s also some extra safety equipment, such as underbody protection panels and an externally mounted multi-point roll cage. 

The car’s bodywork is also finished in a similar shade of yellow as the original Camel racer, while its wheel arches, bonnet and rear door are finished in contrasting Narvik Black. LED headlamps also come as standard, along with a heritage radiator grille and special edition “Land Rover Trophy” badging.

The Defender Works V8 Trophy gets a unique clock for the dashboard and an infotainment system designed to look like the original car’s stereo. Land Rover has also added a pair of Recaro seats, trimmed in black leather upholstery and contrasting yellow stitching.

Purchasers also get to compete in an exclusive three-day challenge at Land Rover’s legendary test centre at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire, England. The event will be the first time customers will drive their new cars and each buyer will receive tuition from a team of seasoned drivers.

Crash test plaudits for Defender and Sorento

Five star results for large sports utilities in NZ market form.

TWO large sports utilities recently introduced to New Zealand have both received five star scores from the nationally-recognised safety ratings agency, one from testing in Europe and the other as result of a process undertaken in Australia.

The Land Rover Defender’s score comes from a test undertaken by European New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) and applies to the long-wheel-based, five-door 110 model that is on sale in NZ, and not the short-wheelbase three-door 90 yet to release.

The Kia Sorento’s outcome was also determined by the European agency, however the score it gets comes with stamp from its Australasian sister organisation, ANCAP.

This is a procedural process but means that the ANCAP rating is only relevant to the 2.2-litre turbodiesel, all-wheel-drive variants – the only choice in Europe - and not any front-wheel-drive, 3.5-litre petrol V6 Sorentos that are built for other places. Those go unrated.

Helping the Sorento achieve its five-star safety rating and 82 per cent score in the Adult Occupant Protection category is the inclusion of a centre airbag, designed to prevent front occupants colliding with one another in a severe side impact.

It is only the third vehicle – and the first family SUV – with such a technology to be tested by Australasian or European safety authorities.

The Sorento received an 89 percent score in the Safety Assist category – the highest since the introduction of ANCAP's stricter 2020 testing protocols – with the safety body celebrating Kia's inclusion of driver attention monitoring as standard, and an autonomous emergency braking system capable of braking for cars turning across intersections.

Kia's new-generation family SUV also earned scores in the Child Occupant Protection and Vulnerable Road User Protection (i.e. cyclists and pedestrians) categories of 85 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.

However, ANCAP's technical report notes 'weak' protection of the driver's chest and upper legs in the frontal offset crash test, and 'poor' protection of a pedestrian's pelvis and head, the latter applying if their head strikes the base of the stiff A-pillars.

The Defender 110 received a solid 85 percent rating in the Adult occupant protection test (scoring 32.5 of 38 points).

 In this test, the Defender scored well in the lateral impact (scoring 15 of 16 points), rear impact (scoring 3.8 of 4 points) and rescue and extrication categories (scoring 2 of 2 points). It was the frontal impact category that the Defender 110 lost points, in scoring 11.7 of 16 points.

In the child occupant test, the Defender scored 85 percent yet again (scoring 41.7 of 49 points). In the Crash Test Performance based on 6- and 10-year-old children category, the Defender received a perfect score (24 of 24 points).

 It scored well in the child restraints (CRS) installation check as well, securing 10.7 out of 12 points. The only area the SUV lost out on was the safety features category (scoring 7 of 13 points), as it doesn’t have integrated child restraints and doesn’t have child-seat mounting points in the middle seat of the second row or in the third row.

The Defender scored 71 percent (38.4 of 48 points) in the vulnerable road users test, with the only major area of concern being the front edge of the bonnet, which provided poor protection to pedestrians. Lastly, it scored 79 percent (12.7 of 16 points) in the safety assist system category.

Defender’s fours hit for six?

They knew the plug-in hybrid petrol drivetrain was coming - the shock news for Land Rover’s distributor in respect to the Defender is hearing the four-cylinder diesels that launched here less than two months are set to be retired soon.

 MORE information about the plug-in hybrid powertrain for the Land Rover Defender has come out, along with shock news – for the local distributor - that the four-cylinder diesels driving the model at present seem for the chop. 

In expressing thought about both, Jaguar Land Rover New Zealand’s top man says while the P400e (above), which blends 44km of pure-electric range with punchy 300kW petrol-fired performance, looks tasty, so much will come to price.

As for the apparent determination to axe the diesels that were front and centre at the national media event for Defender, staged just seven weeks ago? 

Well, that’s come as a shock to general manager Steve Kenchington and he’s been eager to get more information from JLR in the United Kingdom, which appeared to indicate this change in an overnight global release.

If that decision is valid, it’s not clear how much longer this market will be served by the D200 and D240 units that contain in all the launch derivatives.

What is known is that a six-cylinder diesel engine will be introduced in March of 2021. The national franchise already knew that this powerplant would arrive in top line D300 format. It’s the news, broken last night, of less powerful D200 and D250 variants of this unit that has come out of left field. Supposedly, these usurp the D200 four and D240.

Kenchington says there was no indication, when the car hit the market in July, that the four-cylinder option was set to disappear. As of today, he’s still not sure it will. Certainly, the reports have come as a complete surprise.

“It’s a real bombshell. I’m scratching my head on it to be honest. We actually haven’t had any formal notification that the four-cylinders are off the table for us.”

He thinks it all comes back to JLR’s focus on economies of scale and achieving less complexity. 

Defender has been selling brilliantly since release – demand is actually ahead of expectation and the likelihood is at least 350 units being ordered by next March, the end of the local arm’s financial year and just nine months away, when 300 were forecast for the entire calendar year.

He doesn’t think knowledge now that an under-bonnet change is going to diminish enthusiasm for the current engines. 

“If anything, it could be quite the contrary.”

Meantime, the idea of taking a PHEV alongside the current sole petrol choice, a 298kW three-litre six-cylinder (P400) that has 48-volt mild hybrid electrification.

As expected, the drivetrain is from the Range Rover Sport PHEV – so a 2.0-litre turbocharged petrol engine mated to an electric motor and a lithium-ion battery. The combined output of the two systems is 296kW and 650Nm, enough to help the Defender crack the 0-100kmh sprint in 5.6 seconds. It can also tow a trailer up to 3000kg in weight.

It can cover up to 44km on pure-electric power alone and, as electric drive is sent to all four wheels, there’s opportunity for zero-emission off-road driving.

The optimal fuel burn average - under the WLTP testing regime - is just 3.3L/100km, which is the same level as claimed for Toyota’s most efficient car, the Yaris Hybrid, while emitting just 74g/km of CO2. Topping up the battery using a 50kW fast charger, meanwhile, takes just 30 minutes for an 80 percent charge, or two hours using a 7.4kW wallbox home charger.

The diesel drive unwraps in an interesting manner. That the entry six-cylinder will continue with D200 badging might confuse, but has a logic, as it creates identical power as is generated by the current 2.0-litre, 147kW – even though torque lifts, from 430Nm to 500Nm. 

Retiring the D240 designation for D250 is logical, too, as it has 184kW, a 7kW lift, and a than the D240 delivers. Torque climbs to 570Nm.

The top state of tune from the six-cylinder in its flagship D300 tune, meantime, is 221kW and 650Nm. 

The big plus for the six-cylinder is enhanced efficiency, but more in terms of emissions - thanks to 48-volt mild hybrid tech, the D200 and D250 emit 250 g/km.

The story is different in respect to economy. Whereas the four-cylinders’ achieve optimals of 7.6 litres per 100km and 7.7L/100km, the D200 and D250 both average 8.7L/100km. The sixes are sharper in the sprint, though, with ability to hit 100kmh in 10.2 seconds (D200), 8.3s (D250), and 6.7s for the D300.

The new diesels also introduce Intelligent All-Wheel Drive to the Land Rover family: this allows up to 100 percent of engine torque to be diverted to either the front or rear axle if required.

Those engines avail in the current 110 and the incoming shorter 90 body styles, whereas the P400e is available only in the 110 wheelbase, with five or six-seat layouts. The PHEVs also come standard with air suspension and 20-inch alloy wheels.

In some markets, Land Rover has also introduced a new X-Dynamic trim that features a satin black finish for the front and rear bash plates, grille bars, recovery loops and alloy wheels. They also take illuminated tread plates and seats finished in hard-wearing Robustek fabric.

Land Rover has also released more detail on its commercial Defenders, named Hard Top, which maintain only the front seats and convert the remaining cabin space as a fully flat load floor and have a load area partition.

Defender set to lead from front

The old one spent its last years as a niche choice. The new won’t have that luxury – it’s expected to do a big job for Jaguar Land Rover New Zealand.

Paul Ricketts (left) and Steve Kenchington believe Defender will secure up to 30 percent of Land Rover volume within the next 12 months.

THINK Vera Lynn and Adele.

Two huge world-renowned, household name stars but each very much of their own respective times. So much so that no-one would ever imagine the passing of the first would trigger an enhanced allegiance to the other.

It’s the same with the Defender. The old one was such an icon – an automotive Vera, you could say. You’ll never hear Land Rover New Zealand ever say anything less. That it has now gone into history does not demean what it is, what it did, how it should be remembered. 

Of course, at same token, the past is the past and the future belongs to a new Defender. Still hugely rugged off-road, yet obviously from another world in respect to its luxuries, look and tech. Especially tech. It’s jammed with up-to-the-minute assists. One example: ClearSight Ground View technology, which utilises small cameras to film the ground in front of the wheels to show you what you’re about to drive into if you’re off-roading. Personally, I couldn’t get enough of this during the car’s first media drive.

So, yeah, it’s amazingly special. So, even those fans who cannot break away from the illustrious past need excuse the Auckland-domiciled brand for putting their effort into getting the successor line established. 

Though, actually, that’s not the right word. Effort, that is. So far, little of this has been required.

In conversation during the model’s media reveal, Steve Kenchington, the general manager of Jaguar Land Rover’s distributor, Motorcorp, and national JLR product manager Paul Ricketts were delighted to admit the car has so far basically sold itself, with almost every unit in the first shipment of 115 units already accounted for. (Don’t worry, more are coming).

It’s a strong start, one befitting a strong product. On that note, Defender is expected to pull itself out of the rut of niche-dom. It’s back to being what it once was, back in the day before its maker had even discovered the Discovery: A mainstream competitor.

MotoringNZ: “Is it fair to call this your most important model of the past five years?” 

Steve Kenchington: “Without a doubt. I’d suggest it’s probably we will ever have in our careers.”

MNZ: Defender is an icon, but had also become remarkable niche in its it final decade – basically, by then it had fallen out of all workplace use. Taking into account that Land Rover has developed Hardtop models that are designed for work, how challenging will it be the re-establish it in that sphere, or have those days gone?

Kenchington: “I don’t think they have gone. We’re still researching and undertaking some analysis about what we might be able to do with the commercial vehicles. I’d just point out that there is a lot of DNA from the old Defender that has gone into the new one. Which is why I think the pursists are going to love the new Defender. 

“We certainly think we are going to capture some of them (the old model’s fanbase). But we also think this new vehicle is going to provide a much bigger audience.”

MNZ: “On that note, it we look forward to this time next year, what percentage of total Land Rover volume should new Defender be achieving? 

Kenchington: “It’s a quite difficult to say … it’s not a Discovery, even though it reaches into the Discovery price area, and it’s not a Range Rover. Even though we expect a lot of early adopters will be buying the very high spec editions to start, we think the main thrust will be from the D240 in the $115,000 price area. 

“Yes, it will cross over into Discovery, but I think they are two very different customer sets.

“In terms of our overall volume? We’re thinking it could achieve 25 to 30 percent. And 90 percent of that we see as being incremental.”

MNZ: “Just getting back to the  ‘purist’ viewpoint of this car – do you really care if some fans of the old one just cannot see anything to like from the new; does it matter?

Kenchington: “It does to me. Old Defender is an icon and certainly during the design, build and testing phases it was always about trying to create another icon. We want the purists to love it … so long as they understand that it has had to evolve into what it has become today. 

“For the survival of a brand you have got to get volume.”

MNZ: “Speaking of that, you seem to have got of to an excellent start, with almost your first shipment already accounted for. A good sign of it being what the market is waiting for?”

Paul Ricketts: “115 have landed in the country and we expected more than 300 over the next year. The supply chain for Defender is solid. Defender has been a key focus for Land Rover and so, where some of the factories were affected more by Covid, Defender production was able to continue on.”

MNZ: As you say, the Defender plant in Slovakia seems to have escaped the coronavirus crisis. But, of course, car plants in the United Kingdom – from where the majority of Jaguar Land Rover product still sources – were hit. Is there concern that some other product lines by be hit by supply shortages?

Kenchington: “We haven’t seen it. Our volumes are extremely strong at the moment and it’s across all the model line ups. Top-end volume has been remarkably strong, but we’ve seen good sales across Discovery, Discover Sport and Range Rover Evoque and Velar.  We’re getting a really good mix of volume.

“From Defender point of view, we always anticipated 300 for the year but we are already realigning that, to 400 unites, based on the initial inquiry levels we’ve had.”

MNZ: “So the commonly-heard viewpoint from thin industry at the moment about how people are buying cars because they cannot take expensive holidays overseas is ringing true?

Kenchington: “Absolutely. It’s very true.”

MNZ: “Your main thrust in the initial period will be with D240 and the P400, but do you imagine these will be the mainstay choices in the long run? 

Ricketts: “Over this year it will be the D240 SE. Going forward we will have the D300 with the in-line six-cylinder Ingenium diesel and we can see that becoming very strong.”

MNZ: “Keeping with engines, it’s all but confirmed that the line will include another petrol V8 – in SVX guise - and that there is also a plug-in hybrid coming; what can you tell us about those and where do they fit in to your planning?

Kenchington: “We’re really excited … we can’t wait! We don’t know too much about SVX but there is a lot of expectation around it. It’s going to be the very extreme off-road vehicle of the same flavour as the very extreme Discovery that got put on ice because they’ve decided to launch it in Defender first.

“We’re very excited for that and see a strong market for it. Land Rover has established a strong SV (special vehicles) credibility.”

 Ricketts: “We’ve already had lots of customers inquire about the plug-in hybrid. It’ll be available next year with the P300 engine and 100PS of battery.”

NZ cited for Grenadier

The newest defender of old-school off-roading will be seen on Kiwi soil.

 WHO will represent Ineos in New Zealand and when its eerily familiar debut product will become available is yet to be sorted.

 Yet Kiwi fans of a certain flavour of old-school off-roader can be assured: Grenadier IS coming. 

That’s the word from a public relations firm based in Australia that has identified itself as acting on behalf of the British company in this part of the world.

A request to Ineos in the United Kingdom to provision clarity about its intentions in New Zealand resulted in comment coming from DecPR.

 Ruth Fletcher, senior account manager for the Sydney firm, assures NZ is a target market for what is essentially a tribute to the now defunct original Land Rover Defender.

 But crucial details remain unfulfilled.

“It’s too early to confirm distribution and market entry timings. 

“It’s too early to confirm distribution plans.

 “But Ineos is evaluating the opportunities to innovate in this area without the constraints of legacy systems.”

Grenadier’s expected to be available from late-2021 or early 2022, first arriving as the four-wheel-drive wagon seen here with the four-door utility format also shown in the official photos coming close behind.

The price is as much under wraps as the interior’s design, but there have been suggestions in Australian media that the wagon model will cost from $NZ74,000. 

The Ineos car brand was spawned by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, founder of a multi-billion dollar British petrochemical company named Ineos and such an avowed fan of a certain Land Rover that he vowed to resurrect its spirit.

Conjecture that his first born would very much be a successor to that model in size and general shape has proven accurate, yet while there are clear design references to the old Defender and a specification that could easily pass for a modernised version of the 1948 original, it’s not so close as to be considered a clone. It obviously also has more than hint of the Mercedes G-Class about it.

The head of design, Toby Ecuyer, does not have a background with the Green oval brand. Rather, he started his career as an architect, and more recently has been designing super yachts.

Ecuyer says he took inspiration from a host of vehicles known for their uncomplicated and honest design approaches. “From Unimogs to military vehicles to aircraft to lorries and vans. To the Willys jeep, obviously, and Land Rover, the Land Cruiser Nissan Patrol, Bronco … literally everything. 

Ineos cites the Grenadier’s purpose has being “to meet the demands of its future owners for a rugged, capable and comfortable go-anywhere working vehicle.” 

Says chef executive Dirk Heilmann about the decision to unveil the shape now: “Showing the design now allows us to focus on the critical next phase of the vehicle’s development, testing its capability and durability. 

“We have a very challenging programme ahead, as we put prototypes through their paces in all conditions, on the way to accumulating some 1.8 million test kilometres over the coming year.”

He figures taking the covers off and “testing ‘in plain sight’ without the need for camouflage wrapping, foam blocks or fake panels” is an added benefit that’ll keep the model in enthusiasts’ minds until actual release.

The Grenadier will be built in Wales on a ladder-frame chassis designed by Austrian automotive design and manufacturing experts Magna Steyr, the world’s foremost automotive contract constructor. Mercedes G-Class, Toyota Supra and BMW Z4, Jaguar I-Pace and E-Pace and BMW 5-Series models are also presently built by Magna Steyr.

The suspension includes Carraro beam axles front and rear, progressive-rate springs with ZF-sourced dampers, and two Universal Velocity joints in a simple, robust, easy to maintain and repair setup.

The frame is constructed from steel and just about every panel from the doors to the bonnet is produced with aluminium – much like the original Defender.

Ineos has sourced its engines from BMW, settling on petrol or diesel straight-six turbocharged units, ‘based on’ the powerplants employed the X5 SUV.  

The potential power output for the petrol is around 250kW and 500Nm of torque, with the diesel available with four turbos to produce almost 300kW and 760Nm. The engines drive through a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and permanent all-wheel drive system with a low range transfer case and mechanical locking centre differential.

Ineos is also talking about its homage to the past taking a trip into the future, with possibility of it also using fuel cell technology.

The interior is said to be comfortable yet rugged for the expected off-road duties.