Land Rover Defender teased in Dubai dunes

Land Rover has continued to ramp up the anticipation of its all-new Defender.

With plenty of expectations on what will be only the second generation of the off-road icon after more than 65 years, the British brand is trying to build up the hype and anticipation ahead of its unveiling at September’s Frankfurt Motor Show.

This week it revealed more images and details of thinly-disguised prototypes under-going testing in the sand dunes of Dubai as well as the famous Jebel Jais mountain road. The testing was done in conjunction with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The run up Jebel Jais and through the sand dunes were part of more than 200,000km of testing by Land Rover engineers in the United Arab Emirates. 

Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover head of product engineering said the testing was a vital part of evaluating the new machine to ensure it meets the standards the Red Cross and other uses will expect from a Defender.

“The dunes of Dubai are the perfect place to confirm that this is the most capable Land Rover ever made,” he said. “It sits on tyres with an overall diameter of up to 815mm, resulting in a very large contact patch. Coupled with our bespoke traction control system, which monitors and adjusts for a large variety of terrains, this makes the new Defender fantastic on sand and incredibly smooth on road as well.”

Land Rover has spent more than a decade trying to work out how to replace the brand’s original model. The 2011 DC100 concept was widely panned and reportedly sent the team of designers back to the drawing board.

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While the brand hasn’t bothered with another concept car it has been teasing the camouflaged prototypes for several months. Previous images as well as spy photographs have all-but-confirmed several details of the new model, including the continuation of the short-wheelbase two-door ‘90’ model alongside the four-door ‘110’ model.

It’s believed the new model will offer a wider range of bodystyles and variants than before as Land Rover tries to create a Defender sub-brand to appeal to a wider variety of owners.

Can the new Defender live up to the original? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.