I am postponing order of my Defender because my intuition is telling me that soon they will launch Defender Hybrid with 3.0L engine (P440e or P510e)

Since P440e and P510e/P550e are built on Range Rover MLA FLEX Platform, my question is does Defender needs to switch from D7X to MLA FLEX or there is enough space in D7X to fit bigger battery?

What is your opinion?

 

The next-generation Defender will most likely move to MLA-Flex, but as JLR products typically have long life cycles, don't expect this until somewhere around 2028-2030 at the earliest. They won't offer the I6 hybrid in the D7x car because was never originally designed for that.

 

I was told by my dealer that the current Defender does not have enough space for a larger battery.

Also when the New Defender was introduced, JLR communicated that the expected lifespan would be around 20 years (twice as long as the other models). Let‘s see if they stick to it.

 

The Series 109 was 3748 lbs.
The Defender 110 was 4530 lbs.
The new 110 starts at 5035 lbs, but the V8 is at least 5735 lbs.
The P550e starts at over 6000 lbs.
With typical trim levels and available options, these things are over 7000 pounds.
How about they drop 3500 pounds and see what they can come up with? I bet it would save more energy than a hybrid.
With these kinds of curb weights, you could get a Ford F550 instead and load it with canvas wall tents and campaign furniture.

 

Weight with EVs fools a lot of people. The energy density of the batteries more than offsets the negative impact of weight when it comes to speed and range. That's why a Lucid Air Sapphire is faster through the half mile than a $3 million dollar Bugatti even though it weighes around 5,500 pounds. It will do an 8.9 second quarter mile and do 430 miles of range. Same thing with the 9,000 pound Hummer EV.

 

Who takes a Land Rover to a dragstrip?

 

Nobody but people like power. Do we need to Defender with a 500+ hp V8? The weight in EVs increases their range as well though. To cut down on weight they'd either have to cut back on material or reduce the amount of battery they put in and nobody is going to buy a Land Rover with 200 miles of range. The Toyota solid state batteries coming out in 2026 will change the game though so it's only a matter of time.

 

The way I see it, there are two ways to go about overlanding in the bush, in a car or in lorries. Hemingway wrote about it in Green Hills of Africa:The reason not to take a Bedford lorrie and all your wall tents and campaign furniture and cooks and waiters is because you can't get in down beyond those hills without also all the porters and the time to live and hunt. The car will get in there and all those pockets that no one knows of, and where you can pack into anywhere else. The new Defender is already half-way to the curb weight of a Bedford 6x6 and it can't even carry a camp. If Land Rover buyers are looking to increase the weight and power and figure it will do the 1/4 mile in fewer seconds, they have no clue how to use an overlanding car.