New Land Rover Defender OCTA set for July 3 reveal

The new 2024 Land Rover Defender OCTA will feature a BMW-sourced twin-turbocharged V8 and the British car-maker’s advanced 6D Dynamics suspension tech, however production will be limited and an Australian launch is not yet locked in.

Teasing its so-called “high-performance hero” again, Land Rover has also confirmed the Defender OCTA will be revealed on July 3.

As well as being fast, the OCTA is also billed as the toughest and most durable member of the new Land Rover Defender family yet, as seen with its apparent higher ride height and broader track with wider wheel-arches.

New wheels and larger bash plates complete the look and hint at its enhanced ability off the beaten track, while the bonnet packs a power bulge denoting the same BMW twin-turbo 4.4-litre V8 as found in the Range Rover Sport SV.

In the SV, the V8 produces 467kW and 750Nm of torque (800Nm on overboost), driving all four wheels via an eight-speed automatic transmission.

The SV is capable of 0-100km/h in just 3.8 seconds, so the more off-road-biased OCTA is likely to post a sub-4.0sec time, even on grippier all-terrain rubber.

Ensuring the extreme off-roader is up to the task of going very quickly over rough terrain, Land Rover says the Defender OCTA has undergone 13,690 additional tests on top of the standard SUV.

These include handling and durability testing at Germany’s Nurburgring, arduous testing over rally raid stages in France, sand dunes in Dubai and rock crawls in Moab in the US.

The Defender OCTA’s production will be strictly limited, with Land Rover’s biggest market, the US, receiving only 1000 units in the first 12 months of production.

A rival for the Mercedes-AMG G-Class, the Land Rover Defender OCTA could be priced as high as £160,000 ($A310,000) when it hits the streets.

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