Defender 110 due in Australia in June 2020 with prices expected to run from $70,000
Following a year-long teaser campaign, development going back years and then a last-minute leak by a South African 4X4 publication, the all-new Land Rover Defender was revealed earlier this month at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

There are a variety of models, from the Defender 90 and 110 to the dual-cab Defender 130 and even commercial vehicle variants. Seating, depending on the variant, ranges from five- to six and five-plus-two. In the boot a set of gear-securing rails is optional, and onto them you can fix a lockable strongbox. The Defender 110 will offer 5+2 seating which is marketing-speak for an occasional-use seven-seater. With the third-row seats used there’s 464 litres of storage space (or 646L on five-seat models), fold the third-row seats, and there’s 916 litres of storage space (1075L on five-seat models) and up to 2233 litres with the second-row seats folded (or 2380 litres on five-seat models).

On the inside, the new Defender boasts an infotainment set-up that’s more modern than any other Land Rover with a next-generation system and twin screens. And, in keeping with the retro thinking, there are plenty of exposed surfaces to hint back to the old Defender and beyond it to the original Series vehicles. Indeed, Land Rover claims the interior only requires a brush or wipe clean … how about we see how that goes after a run across the Simpson.

But you’ve got to get past the looks first. On the outside, the new Defender, according to Land Rover designer, Gerry McGovern: “The new Defender is respectful of its past but is not harnessed by it. This is a new Defender for a New Age. Its unique personality is accentuated by its distinctive silhouette and optimum proportions, which make it both highly desirable and seriously capable – a visually compelling 4X4 that wears its design and engineering integrity with uncompromised commitment”.

Sitting on a new platform, called D7x, Land Rover claims the Defender’s monocoque platform affords it the stiffest body of any Land Rover ever. Running on air springs, potential ground clearance is up to 291mm with the Defender 110 offering approach, breakover and departure angles of 38, 28 and 40 degrees (Off-Road height) respectively. Its maximum wading depth of 900mm is supported by a new Wade program in the Terrain Response 2 system. The recovery points are safe for a 6.5-tonne snatch load, and the cost-optional winch is good for 4.5 tonnes of pull. Payload is 900kg, and maximum braked towing limit of 3500kg.

At global launch there are two petrol engines, a four-cylinder with 220kW and a new straight-six giving 294kW and 550Nm of torque from 2000-5000rpm. There are also two four-cylinder diesels, at 147kW and 430Nm of torque and 177kW and 430Nm of torque from 1400rpm, both of them rated at an impressive 7.6L/100km on the WLTP cycle. Next year a petrol plug-in-hybrid version goes on sale in some countries, allowing commuter-length trips in pure electric drive. All versions have an eight-speed auto box as well as the two-speed transfer case.

There will be a raft of add-on packs, including Adventure, Urban and Explorer, offering things like bolt-on storage boxes, roof racks, roof-top tents, built-in remote-control winch, snorkel and much more.

Land Rover Defender Revealed

WORDS ISAAC BOBER

New Nissan Patrol Spied

The face-lifted 2020 Nissan Patrol has been spotted in production form at a Dubai holding yard

The internet struck again with spy images of the face-lifted 2020 Nissan Patrol arriving online earlier this month. Wrapped and ready for dealerships, the refreshed Patrol carries a slightly more aggressive look than the current vehicle, with the rear finally doing (mostly) away with the Nissan Micra/Tiida style tail-lights.

Nissan is keeping very quiet about the updated Patrol, but we know it’s likely to continue with a petrol motor. And while spy shots of the exterior have popped up regularly, we hadn’t seen the interior until now.

On the inside, we can see a large digital display that appears to be set out for air-con/vehicle settings control, while there is a smaller screen above, between the air-vents that is likely to be the infotainment screen, housing sat-nav and stereo information. Red leather adorns the seats and centre console, while there’s a rather nice-looking leather-wrapped dashtop to go with it.

“There are plenty of exposed surfaces to hint back to the old Defender and beyond it to the original Series vehicles"

Poor sales the cause of LandCruiser V8 petrol being axed in Australia.

Toyota Australia has axed the petrol V8 LandCruiser from Australian dealerships and its websites, with poor sales considered the main reason. Indeed, year-to-date just 500 petrol V8 LandCruisers have found homes out of the more than 8000 that have been sold this year.

Toyota Australia is on the record saying that August was the end of the line for the V8 petrol in Australia, meaning that no more orders will be taken for the petrol variant. "The Landcruiser 200 series has discontinued all petrol variants from August 2019 production onwards," confirmed a spokesperson from Toyota Australia. "This was in response to low market demand for this variant."

Where does this leave the Lexus? It’s still offering the LX 570 which runs the same 5.7L V8 petrol engine with Lexus on the record as saying it is business as usual for that model.

Petrol V8 LandCruiser dropped

Limited-edition Jeep Grand Cherokee Upland on-sale now

Poor sales the cause of LandCruiser V8 petrol being axed in Australia.

With just 44 vehicles being offered, you’ll have to be quick to get your hands on the limited-run Jeep Grand Cherokee Upland which is in dealerships now from $61,450+ORCs. According to Jeep, “the Grand Cherokee Upland combines a rugged and refined exterior with polished interior touchpoints”.

The Upland boasts $7000 in added value, and offers unique-to-the-model, ‘Desert Sky’ blue accents around the gloss ’Jeep’ and ‘Grand Cherokee’ badges, Goodyear all-terrain tyres wrapped around 20-inch fully painted five-spoke black alloy wheels. There are gloss black finishes on the grille rings, roof rails, day light opening moulding, side mirror caps, fog and tail-light surrounds, and 4X4 badge. On the inside, ‘Desert Sky’ accents continue with blue stitching on the centre armrest console, steering wheel and side door armrest.

While new car sales in August dropped by a whopping 10.1 percent compared to 2018, dual-cab pick-ups continued to dominate sales.

Both the Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger dominated new car sales in August, selling 3674 and 3181 vehicles, respectively. Toyota Corolla finished the month in third place. However, based on 4X4 sales, Ford Ranger edged ahead of Toyota HiLux with just 13 vehicles separating them; 2884 and 2871 respectively.

According to the VFACTs figures released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), the peak body for the automotive industry, new car sales in August fell by 10.1 percent compared to the same month in 2018; total sales for the month were 85,633 units.

Each segment of the market recorded a downturn, with passenger vehicles dropping 16.7 percent with 25,783 sales, SUVs down 5.4 percent with 39,040 sales and light commercial vehicles down 8.6 percent with 17,513 sales.

Announcing the results today, Tony Weber, chief executive of the FCAI, noted the August results mark the seventeenth consecutive month of declining sales.

“There’s no doubt it is a very tough market at the moment,” Mr Weber said, “And despite the best efforts of the industry, the decrease in sales continues.”

“It is well known that Australia is one of the most competitive markets in the world, and with the current economic environment, it is also one of the most difficult markets in the world.”

“This environment stems from a slow start to the year, with tight financial lending, State and Federal elections and a general lack of consumer confidence, both here in Australia and on an international basis,” Weber said.

Toyota remained the top-selling marque for the month with 16,700 sales for 19.5 percent market share, followed by Hyundai (7320 sales for 8.5 percent market share) and Mazda (7291 sales for 8.5 percent market share), Mitsubishi (6242 sales for 7.3 percent market share) and Ford (4916 sales for 5.7 percent market share).

Ford Ranger tops 4X4 sales in August

Ford Ranger Wildtrak X arrives Down Under

The Ford Ranger Wildtrak X has arrived at Ford dealerships boasting new wheels and flared arches, a snorkel and more … pricing is from $65,290+ORCs.

Available with either a 3.2-litre five-cylinder turbo-diesel ($65,290+ORCs) or the 2.0-litre bi-turbo diesel ($66,790+ORCs), the Ford Ranger Wildtrak X is all about getting some attention on Ford’s top-spec dual-cab before the refreshed model arrives at the end of the year.

Unlike the usual sticker-pack jobs, the Wildtrak X actually gets some useful modifications, including a nudge bar with LED lightbar mounted on top, a pillar-mounted snorkel, but that’s it … other tweaks included new flared wheel arches, new black matte alloys, a unique grille and bumper, door handles and lower door panels. On the inside, it’s pretty much just a stock-standard Wildtrak, which means leather interior and contrast stitching.

According to Ford, the Wildtrak X offers around $6000 in value-add with prices rising by just $2000 compared with the regular Wildtrak. In making the announcement, Ford Australia and New Zealand boss, Kay Hart said, “Ranger owners are telling us that they want more personalisation, specialised gear and more kit for weekends away and family trips. The Wildtrak X brings the high equipment levels, rugged good looks and tools to take things up to the next level.”

Volkswagen Australia has confirmed only the Core variant will get the manual transmission

Volkswagen has confirmed the Amarok V6 manual will arrive in Australia in December, saying it has listened to customers. The manual transmission will only be available on the Core variant, with the more-power 580 Ultimate sticking with its eight-speed automatic transmission only. The Amarok V6 Core makes 165kW at 2500-4800rpm and can overboost to 180kW and has 550Nm of torque from 1500-2500rpm. The braked towing capacity is 3500kg with a towball download of 300kg.

Speaking about customer feedback, Ryan Davies, Director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Australia, said: “At every off-road, caravan and camping expo and Big Red Bash concert the team and I attend, we speak with current owners and members of the off-roading community who have begged us to bring an Amarok V6 manual to Australia”.

“It was because of that passion that we were able to mount a case with our head office in Germany to build one and, based on Australia remaining the number one export market in the world for the V6 Amarok, we are finally able to offer this unique, Aussie-spec ‘Rok,” Ryan said.

In addition to the manual Amarok V6 Core, Volkswagen announced it will launch two new limited-edition models in Australia, the Amarok V6 Highline Black and the Amarok Canyon.

Manual V6 Amarok here in December

Updated Ranger in time for Christmas presents!

The updated 2020 Ford Ranger has been detailed boasting new equipment and updated suspension and safety equipment across the range

Ford has released details of the updated 2020 Ford Ranger which will lob into showrooms around December. Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but it’s fair to assume there’ll be some minor pricing adjustments. Moving on.

The tweaks start with the Ranger XL which will now be offered with a heavy-duty suspension option ($550 on al XL variants with the exception of 4×2 Low-Rider). The heavy-duty suspension option for the XL has been developed, Ford said, to improve, not load carrying, but vehicle ride and handling when carrying heavier loads. For instance, the new suspension pack, when carrying, say, 550kg improves bump stop clearance by 70 percent or 25mm. The suspension pack, includes:

• New rear springs – thicker, with revised spring rate;
• New front and rear dampers with revised damper tune;
• Bridgestone A/S tyres on 4×2 XL models (already standard on 4×4 XL models); and
• Unique calibration for ABS and Electronic Stability Control (ESC).

Entry-level Ranger XL and XLS will now get the same 8.0-inch infotainment screen running Sync3 as the rest of the range. Ford is also adding an extra USB outlet mounted up near the rear vision mirror, across the range.

Step up to the XLT, Wildtrak and Raptor will get new Bi-LED head-lights which replace the old model’s HID-style headlights. The visual change sees the round light replaced by a square-look light housing. But there’s more to it than aesthetics, the Bi-LED headlights, according to Ford, offer 17 percent better light penetration in standard beam and 20 percent greater lighting penetration in high-beam. Ford claims the LED lights provide a much whiter light which causes less eye fatigue.

And for those urban warriors who favour looks, the Ranger Wildtrak cops, in addition to the new lights, new-look 18-inch alloys, as well as cost-optional black alloys. But it’s the ditching of the manual roller shutter, which drew numerous complaints and could be easily broken into, for a powered unit. The new, powered roller shutter can be activated from inside the cabin, via a button in the tray or by using the key fob. The shutter will lock in any position and even features an ice-break function that will see it ripple the shutters in icy conditions. More than this, the new shutter is more compact than the old one, improving load clearance by 20mm and an additional 80mm of length from the roller cannister to the tail-gate.

For the Raptor, it gets the new lights and extra USB outlet but also a new, exclusive colour – Ford Performance Blue will only be available on Raptor. Blue Lightning will continue to be offered across the range.

Making the announcement, Kay Hart, President and CEO of Ford Australia and New Zealand, said: “Feedback from Australian and New Zealand customers has driven upgrades across the Ranger line-up, from heavy-duty suspension in the XL, to a remote control powered roller-shutter on Wildtrak, and new Bi-LED projector headlights on the XLT, Wildtrak and Ranger Raptor.

“Customers also told us they want the convenience of a windshield mounted USB to power accessories, so we will now make this available across the Ranger line-up.”