New Defender To Make American Debut at LA Auto Show

The New Defender will make its public debut in North America at the Los Angeles Auto Show, taking place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from November 22nd to December 1st. The Defender launch will be on a press preview day on November 20th.

When the Defender launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show was announced over the summer, the North American Debut at LA was also mentioned. The launch will take place at 8 AM Pacific Time on Wednesday, November 20th.

The LA Show will also feature the Defender 110 used in No Time to Die, the new James Bond movie. It will be revealed in an out-of-show event on the 19th, and then will go on display on the show floor.

Though we know what the Defender looks like now, and press vehicles are running around Europe, this will be the first time it will be shown on American shores for American audiences to get a look at it. You won't be able to get your hands on the wheel yet, though -- if you want to be the first to do that, you'll have to attend the 4xFAR Festival in Coachella Valley, California in January, where you'll have the chance to drive the Defender and other Land Rover products on a 15-acre off-road course.

While North America is currently only getting the passenger versions of the Defender 90 and Defender 110, we may soon see a more bare-bones model. The Defender Commercial was launched alongside the passenger models at the Frankfurt launch. With no rear seats or rear side windows, it resembles the classical hardtop model.

The Commercial was originally intended for European markets where vehicles of this design get tax benefits (there is even a Discovery 5 Commercial there), but off-road biased North American owners showed enough interest that Land Rover North America is thinking about bringing in the Defender 90 Commercial. JLRNA President Joe Eberhardt confirmed that the idea is being considered for the future. The Commercial would come with 18" steel wheels, and would have fewer electrical whizz-bangs than the passenger models.

There's also a rumor that the LA show could be the full launch of the two-door Defender 90. Right now, pricing and specifications have not been fully released for it, with the primary focus on the four-door Defender 110. Though Eberhart expects the D110 to outsell the D90 by a factor of three- or four-to-one, the D90 is the spiritual successor to the original 80" Series 1 of 1948, and a vital member of the product line.

Deliveries of Defenders in North America should take place in Spring 2020.

For tickets to the LA Auto Show, visit https://laautoshow.com.