The Land Rover News Blog

Five years after the final Land Rover-sponsored Camel Trophy, a successor event was announced. The G4 Challenge would become an international, multi-destination, multi-vehicle competition, featuring the same global competitive spirit as the Camel Trophy. There would only be two G4 Challenges, in 2003 and 2006, with a third 2009 event cancelled at the last minute due to the global financial crisis. Though it was never as hardcore of the iconic Camel Trophy events of the 1980s, the G4 Challenge has cemented its place in Land Rover lore.

Future Land Rover products are set to feature interior trim plastics and floor mats made from a recycled material called ECONYL. This material uses recycled fishing nets, recycled carpet, leftover industrial plastic, and textile offcuts to create an eco-friendly fiber. ECONYL uses these recycled nylon products to make a new, recyclable premium material that's massively earth-friendly.

Land Rover released a Range Rover Velar plug-in hybrid in Europe this week, using the same technology seen in other plug-in models. Land Rover has now made good on a promise made in 2017 that all new and updated vehicles launched from 2020 would be electrified -- either fully-electric, plug-in hybrid, or mild hybrid.

Iconic African expedition leader Kingsley Holgate is taking his latest trek, tracing the outline of his home nation of South Africa in new Defenders. This expedition, which works with COVID-related border closures by staying within a single nation, will be the first major South African expedition using the new Defender.

Unlike the neverending calendar year 2020, the 2020 model year has come and gone for the new Defender, and the order books are now open for 2021 models. With that comes the beginning of North American Defender 90 production, after a COVID-19-related delay. There are also tweaks to the Defender 110, now in its second year of production.

The first production Land Rover Series I 80", serial number 860001, has been revealed after a full restoration that took it from a pile of parts rotting in a field to a working, functional, but authentic and character-filled truck once again.

While Range Rovers have often been seen parked on the street in London’s famous tailoring district of Savile Row, for the first time, the bespoke garments coming out of its famous clothing houses will pay tribute to the luxury 4x4. Clothier Henry Poole & Co. has woven a special fabric that will supply enough material to make just fifty bespoke jackets for men and women – one for each year of the Range Rover’s storied history.

Jessie Diggins, winner of the first-ever American Olympic cross-country skiing gold medal at the PyeongChang 2018 games, reopened the Land Rover Experience center at The Equinox in Vermont, taking the wheel of the new 2020 Defender while learning off-roading under social distancing protocol.

Land Rover has announced that production of the AJ-V8 motor will continue in-house after current manufacturer Ford closes their Bridgend, Wales factory next month. They plan to maintain production for several years, so that the popular high-performance V8 range can continue production until an alternative is engineered.

While many automakers are working on making human-controlled driving a thing of the past through autonomous driving, that doesn’t solve much of an issue for the many people who can get carsick at the turn of a corner. Research underway with Jaguar Land Rover’s software engineering facility may one day help those people enjoy the ride a bit more.