Hey, Look, It’s the 2020 Land Rover Defender

Land Rover has been working on and teasing a next-generation Defender for quite some time now—in 2001, the company released a pair of DC100 concepts to take the public’s pulse on a possible direction for the model. That didn’t go well. But with a fresh design executed and development work almost complete, the new Defender—along with big expectations—is almost here. While the official debut won’t take place until September, a photo posted to the landroverphotoalbum Instagram account has given us a very good idea what to expect.

The photo shows the gauge cluster of the new Defender, ostensibly that of the longer, four-door 110 model, as that’s what’s shown. (A shorter, two-door 90 model is also part of the plan.) Modern Land Rover products often show a picture of the vehicle in question in their instrument panels at startup and for other various displays, and that seems to be what we’re seeing here. The vehicle is as boxy as we’d expect given the camouflaged prototypes Land Rover has trotted out to build buzz, and it has five-spoke wheels, a contrasting white roof with a (presumably fixed) glass panel at the rear, a rear-mounted spare tire, and a large C-pillar bisected by the rear door cut line. Also visible is a fender vent—it’s unknown how functional it might be—slight flares at the front and rear wheel arches, and what might be a bulged hood in the style of the old Defender’s “puma” bonnet.

We also expect an available air suspension, diesel and gasoline power—presumably of the 2.0-liter turbocharged variety—and the new Ingenium inline-six engine all to make appearances on the spec sheet. The Defender arrives during a bit of a renaissance of sorts for off-road rigs, with a new Ford Bronco on the way, a redesigned Jeep Wrangler (and its Gladiator pickup cousin) already here, and brands like GMC thought to have their own takes on the way. (Heck, there’s even a rumor Hummer may return as an EV.) While we’re confident what we’re looking at is indeed the new Defender, the rest of the particulars will have to wait until the vehicle is fully revealed in a couple of months.

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