Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover needs a new design boss after the departure of Gerry McGovern.

Last December, headlines blared across the automotive media landscape that Jaguar Land Rover had fired its Chief Creative Officer and longtime design leader, Gerry McGovern. However, no one would confirm it — until now.

In the past when you wanted to rent a vehicle that wasn’t commonly available, you’d have to tap a service like Turo, now you can just go to the Hertz rental counter when you land at the airport. The latest cool vehicle available? The Ineos Grenadier Fieldmaster.

Ford is allegedly working on something for the Lincoln brand that will rival the Mercedes-Benz G-Class and other high-zoot SUVs with legitimate off-road chops. Rumored to launch right around 2030, the model is supposed to ride on the same body-on-frame platform leveraged by the Bronco.

Hey hey, it's podcast time!

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has reportedly been forced to suspend production and and even sales while it restarts operations following an assumed cyber attack.

Land Rover is expanding a Canadian recall for some older Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models into the United States. The action covers 121,509 SUVs from the 2014 through 2017 model years for an issue that could cause the front suspension knuckle to fail.

Land Rover debuts its most capable and powerful Defender ever, the Octa, for 2025. We took it on an 8-hour drive from Western Colorado to Moab, Utah, one of the most epic of off-road driving locations in the US, to put it to the test.

That new Range Rover logo sure is something, isn't it? And not, to my eye, something good.

Land Rover has reportedly previewed a new logo for the Range Rover during a recent investors meeting, with an aim to mimic the designer-fashion aesthetic. While the company has since confirmed the upcoming change, it was likewise careful to message that it’s not going to replace the official logo.

Sales for Jaguar have been on a downward trend for a while and the brand endured a 97-percent decline in European volume (year-over-year) in April. That’s according to data from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, which also reported that total Jaguar sales have declined 77.8 percent year to date compared to 2024. However, everything is allegedly going according to plan because the company has purposefully decided not stop producing cars last year.

A new Landmark Edition brings something fresh to this compact crossover.

Today we bring you a 1999 Land Rover Discovery.

President Donald Trump recently met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, with the pair reaching an agreement that will reduce some of the tariffs’ impacts, especially on the country’s automakers. The new deal will help save jobs at Jaguar Land Rover, Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and others, as it significantly lowers tariffs on vehicles imported from Britain.

A few weeks ago, in early April, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) said it would halt U.S. imports as President Trump’s auto tariffs took hold. The automaker has now reversed that decision, though its only imports will come from the Land Rover brand for the foreseeable future.

Jaguar Land Rover was already in one of the more precarious positions in its history before Donald Trump took office as president, but the recent tariff announcements could throw a wrench in the gears of its recovery plans. The automaker, which moved just 430,000 vehicles globally last year, said it would pause shipments to the U.S. while it works through the impacts on its business operations.

What’s a competent off-roader if you can’t also do 0-60 mph in less than four seconds? That’s the approach Land Rover is taking with the new Defender Octa, which offers tremendous power and performance driving modes that make it an over-the-top special edition.

Last week, I piloted two very different vehicles. Here's a short report on the first one -- the 2024 Land Rover Defender 110 County Pack*.

JLR is tending to its tremendously square Defender this upcoming model year, gifting it the likes of new seating options and an updated four-wheel drive system.

Usually when we feature a Land Rover in this space, it's a classic Defender. There's a good reason for that, they're cool. Today, we're going with a more-mainstream Land Rover offering -- a 2012 Land Rover LR4.

Today we have a lovely right-hand drive 1991 Land Rover Defender 90.

If you like yer British off-road weapon served with a size of boost, you’re in luck. Land Rover announced this morning they are stuffing a twin-turbo V8 up the nose of its blocky Defender.

I've said it before, but I have a weak spot for 1990s Land Rover Defenders.

So this one has me considering lottery tickets. It's a pricey 1997 Land Rover Defender 110.

Only about 10 to 20 percent of the time do I want to actually buy what we post in this feature. I don't post vehicles I like -- I post stuff that I think you guys will find interesting (and yes, that includes half-dead vehicles in need of serious restoration). That said, this 1988 Land Rover 110 300TDi makes me feel things.

Do you like rare old trucks? I like rare old trucks. This Land Rover 109 of indeterminate year and mileage is definitely a rare old truck.

We send you into the weekend with a weird one today. It's a 2004 Land Rover Discovery with a brand-new engine.

Land Rover has done some funky things with its product catalog recently, splitting each main vehicle line into its own “brand.” While that hasn’t changed much other than its website layout, the company is starting to branch out with electrification that could push the individual models further apart. The Range Rover Electric is coming soon, and the automaker recently opened the wait list for its gas-free flagship SUV.

Today, we give you a beast to gawk at. This 1986 Land Rover 110 is right-hand drive, has been converted to run a 200tdi engine, has just 27,500 kilometers on the clock, and has a manual transmission.

Yesterday we brought you the details on the 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. The Santa Fe's new duds are quite blocky, just like those of the Land Rover Defender (Hyundai claims this is a coincidence. Other blocky SUVs on the market include the Ford Bronco. Other Land Rover/Range Rover models are squared off, too. Kia, which is a corporate sibling to Hyundai, has been selling the blocky Telluride for a while now.

This one is a weird one. It's a right-hand-drive, U.K.-spec 1990 Land Rover Defender 110 County Estate -- and the seller wants $90K.

You can get a nice, modern Defender for less.

Horsepower and SUVs can be a wicked combination when done right; witness any number of hi-po German and, increasingly, Italian machinery which somehow successfully combine high centres of gravity and outlandish acceleration numbers.

The new Range Rover Sport SV takes the concept and cranks its wick to 626 horsepower, meaning this Rangey is capable of hitting 60 mph from rest in just 3.6 seconds.

It’s an open secret that most of us here are fans of the new Defender. Comfortable, capable, and shod with boxy good looks, the off-roader checks many boxes on our list – except one: Wrangler- or Bronco-style open-air wheeling.

A custom shop in The Netherlands has changed that with a new creation called the Valiance.

Automakers seem to love the idea of subbrands.

The most recent one to make this sort of shift -- Land Rover.

What I can't figure out is: Why?

We talked last week about how the Land Rover name will be retired and the models currently on sale, along with Jaguar, will become subbrands.

Rumors of Jaguar’s demise have floated for decades, really, but we’re now learning it’s the British automaker’s sister company that will be seeing the most dramatic changes. Jaguar Land Rover recently announced that it would rebrand itself as JLR and that Land Rover as we know it is going away. 

There are more than a few gearheads around here – on both sides of the keyboard – who never really grew out of assembling those little bricks from Denmark. Fortunately, the Lego crew recognized this ages ago and began cranking out scale models of popular vehicles. This time around, they’re tackling an instantly recognizable off-road rig.

If a left-hand-drive diesel Land Rover is your kind of thing, check out this listing.

The last time I reviewed a Land Rover Defender, I commented on how I enjoyed its driving experience despite some very British electrical failings such as the radio going AWOL for half an hour.

I expected similar from the two-door version, and to my pleasant surprise, I got the good parts without any real gremlins or bugs.

Auto-show parties sometimes get out of hand. Most of the shenanigans don’t reach you, the car-buying public, for one reason or another. One major reason is lack of newsworthiness: It’s one thing if a lubricated PR rep confirms some new product that’s supposed to be secret. It’s another if a PR rep sings karaoke poorly.

One thing would make it to the pages of TTAC and maybe a rival site like Jalopnik. The other would not. No matter how bad some PR chief is at warbling “Sweet Caroline.”

Then again, if TMZ is in the house, all bets are off.

Like many folks, I was excited to hear that Land Rover was resurrecting the Defender nameplate. I grew up admiring the boxy go-anywhere Defenders of days gone by, and I was hoping Jaguar Land Rover could recreate that magic.

Imagine my consternation when instead the brand came up with an SUV that seemed to be quite the departure from the old-school Defender. Still, after seeing it up close at auto shows, I became cautiously optimistic about this modern-day interpretation of the Defender. After driving it, I came away mostly impressed – but the usual British reliability issues complicated things.

Today’s Rare Ride is a super luxurious two-door aftermarket Range Rover. Much like the Rolls-Royce Wraith Silver Spectre featured here recently, the Range Rover’s transformation was also designed by Niels Van Roij.

Hopefully, your eyes are prepared for luxury.

The Land Rover Defender, absent from the U.S. for a quarter of a century, has made its return in both a 90 and 110 super size. Available from 296 HP mild to 518 HP wild, there’s one available in just about any configuration you’d want.

Land Rover Defender 110s are taking on the 2021 Dakar Rally, the 13-day, 12-stage, 4,751-mile all-terrain challenge. One of the toughest sporting events in the world, these production-spec models will support an ambitious new Dakar Rally team, Bahrain Raid Xtreme (BRX) throughout the race.

A replica of the 1992 Land Rover Defender from the 2015 James Bond movie “Spectre,” has been created by Wilmington, North Carolina’s Osprey Custom Cars, specialists in restomodding classic Land Rover Defenders, Ford Broncos, and Toyota FJs. One of Osprey’s latest, the truck’s outward appearance is identical to that of the movie vehicle, but the similarities begin and end there.

In Part I of this very orange Rare Ride, we covered the love child of Rover, BMW, and (eventually) Ford which was the L322 Range Rover. Today we’ll talk about just what makes this one so special, aside from the glaringly orange paint.

Today’s subject is the first time a Range Rover appears in the series. We’ve come as close as a Discovery badged as the Honda Cro$$road previously, but today’s truck is much more special.

It’s a 1 of 20 G4 Challenge.

With the Los Angeles Auto Show rescheduled for May before its likely cancellation, manufacturers have been issuing bundled press releases for products that presumably would have been there had society bothered to maintain a shred of normalcy. On Wednesday, Land Rover announced a series of updates for the 2021 Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Velar, and Discovery Sport. But improvements appear largely limited infotainment tweaks, save for the Velar’s upcoming hybrid powertrain.

North American customers may also be disappointed to learn that 2021 MY cars likely won’t arrive until after Christmas. The pandemic has placed Jaguar Land Rover behind schedule already and European officials are pushing for another extended lockdown over flu season. That’s enough for us to recommend you save any comically oversized red bows for next year because government health restrictions basically guarantee production slowdowns.

Land Rover lit up my inbox this morning with more news about the reborn Defender. It seems there’s just always more to talk about with the new version of the iconic SUV.

The news for the 2021 model year is that there will be a three-door 90 model. Another piece of news is the X-Dynamic trim, which is meant to slot in between lower and upper trims. Jaguar Land Rover’s materials say the X-Dynamic is meant to have a “tough” exterior look and “unique” interior “fittings” but what does this corporate-speak really mean?

Imitation, as the saying goes, is the sincerest form of flattery, but Jaguar Land Rover’s been burned in the past, what with a certain Chinese automaker rolling out near carbon copies of its Range Rover Evoque crossover.

In the Defender lies far more heritage, but JLR just lost a bid to keep the visual rights to the boxy off-road beast in the UK, paving the way for British sales of a model that looks very similar to the much-loved previous-generation model.

This interview should’ve been posted months ago.

I sat with Jaguar Land Rover North America Product Planning Director Rob Filipovic at the 2020 Chicago Auto Show (remember those?) to talk about the reborn Defender.

Then, I screwed up. I didn’t write the piece right away due to other work and travel. Still, the first drive was scheduled for mid-April, and I thought maybe the interview would work well as a companion piece to our first drive of the Defender.

You know the rest.

Months ago, I was supposed to board a plane to Old Blighty to drive the new Land Rover Defender.

Given the vehicle’s heritage and importance to the brand, I was excited to see if it was a worthy successor to the famous series of SUVs that came before. I was also excited to go to England for the first time. My Austin Powers impression would be so much cooler if performed in the Old Empire (narrator voice: It would not).

Before I could even finish the paperwork for an international excursion, my flight — and everyone else’s — was canceled. As you know, the pandemic killed off new-car launches for the foreseeable future, although JLR merely “postponed” this one.

Does the world need wicked-fast luxury SUVs with hefty pricetags?

Probably not.

Does Land Rover sell at least one? Yes, yes it does.

Even Range Rovers need to go green.

Or, at the very least, offer “green” engine options to accrue cred with the right kind of well-heeled buyers.

While I believe some of the greenies with plenty of green in their bank account are sincere about their intentions to save the planet (and I definitely believe the climate is changing, and we’re at fault), other green types are simply signaling virtue. Still others think they’re doing the right thing, without considering that not all hybrids are the same.

Some hybrids aren’t even meant to maximize fuel economy – their electrified hardware strives mainly for enhanced performance.

Land Rover’s Defender has returned and, based on the marketing materials furnished by the manufacturer, you’d think every model came with Jesus riding shotgun. The 2020 Defender is all things to all people. Exciting, powerful, comfortable, rugged, efficient, and on the bleeding edge of automotive technology, the new model really gave Land Rover an opportunity to pat itself on the back when it debuted in Frankfurt on Tuesday.

However, we’re not wholly convinced the company deserves to be relentlessly mocked for its enthusiasm — at least not this early in the article. There has been a clear effort made to ensure the off-roader has the broadest appeal possible, which has kind of been the model’s trajectory for as far back as memory allows. Besides, we don’t know for certain that the Defender’s evolution into a Swiss Army Knife is even a problem until we’ve driven one. But there will be a few issues we’ll have to address on principle, especially its move to unibody construction.

With less than two weeks to go before its Frankfurt Motor Show debut, Land Rover has sent its upcoming Defender SUV on a road trip to the Rhineland. Kicking off the continental slog in a remote and cinematic valley near the China-Kazakhstan border, the Defender will presumably score some rough-and-tumble bragging rights — as well as all-important photo ops — on the way to its German unveiling on September 10th.

Too bad we’ve already seen it.

Not since James Bond traded in his .32 Walther PPK for a PPK/S in .380 ACP has the long-running film franchise generated so much buzz. The set of the upcoming film No Time to Die was the site of an unexpected and long-awaited Land Rover reveal this week, with a shot leaking to social media of the next-generation Defender.

Spotted completely sans camo and appropriately splattered with mud, the Defender pic comes by way of Instagram user shedlocktwothousand. Jaguar Land Rover would surely have preferred to keep this thing under wraps — after a three-year hiatus, the new Defender is due for a public unveiling at next month’s Frankfurt Auto Show.

Our last couple of Buy/Drive/Burn posts covered two different flavors of compact Japanese SUVs from the 1990s. Today we branch out and review larger, luxury-oriented SUVs hailing from places other than Japan.

Twelve miles per gallon? That’s plenty.

A batch of new leaks on the Land Rover Defender have indicated that the model will come in a trio of body styles, one of which is supposed to seat eight, and offer quite a bit of variance between trims.

Defender “leaks” are nothing new; the manufacturer has been parsing out camouflaged body shots for months. While this marketing strategy left us feeling burnt out on Toyota’s Supra prior to its debut, JLR has exercised a bit more restraint, encouraging some enthusiast-based espionage — which is far more fun.