2021 Land Rover Defender gets supercharged V8 power

Remember those days when the Land Rover Defender was laughed at for being one of the slowest vehicles on the road? Well now it's been turned into one of the quickest, courtesy of the fitment of a potent new engine. Land Rover on Thursday announced that its new flagship Defender 90 and 110 V8 models come armed with a burly 5.0-litre supercharged V8 motor that produces 386kW and a whopping 625Nm worth of torque.

These figures see the smaller 90 model scamper from standstill to 100km/h in a claimed 5.2 seconds and onward to a top speed of 240km/h. The trade-off here, obviously, is fuel consumption: Land Rover says it goes as “low” as 14.5l/100km. Yeah, on a good day maybe. CO2 emissions “from” 327g/km will also give your average cargo ship a run for its money.

To handle this increase in power and the style of driving it's bound to encourage, Land Rover has bestowed the Defender V8 with unique suspension and transmission tuning, including bespoke spring and damper rates and a new Electronic Active Rear Differential. This delivers more agile and engaging handling with significantly improved body control. Finally, the Terrain Response system now also comes equipped with “Dynamic” mode. 

In keeping with its performance, the Defender V8 features a number of bold exterior enhancements. These include a set of 22-inch Satin Dark Grey alloy wheels, quad exhaust tailpipes, bespoke exterior badging plus Xenon Blue brake calipers with 20-inch rotors. Customers have a choice of three colours: Carpathian Grey, Yulong White or Santorini Black. Carpathian Grey and Yulong White get a contrasting Narvik Black roof as standard.

Climb inside this high-speed off-roader's cabin and you'll discover more model-specific features such as seats trimmed in Ebony Windsor Leather with Miko Suedecloth and Robustec accents, each finished with a unique Ebony tag, while the Defender’s exposed Cross Car Beam has a special Satin Black finish. The four-spoke steering wheel is enhanced by an Alcantara rim and satin chrome gearshift paddles. Leather covers the airbag housing and gear lever, while illuminated treadplates are finished with V8 script. 

The new Land Rover Defender 90 and 110 V8 models will arrive in SA towards the end of 2021. Pricing will be confirmed closer to the time.