With the launch of the new Defender coming some time in the next few months, the automotive press is soon to be without a story they’ve been thriving on for two decades. Fortunately, Solihull seems to be helping them out, and three interesting stories crossed the transom recently about future developments to show up in the next few years.

Though the new Defender has yet to be unveiled (though it may be sooner than we’d think, if we read between the lines right, it has always been implied that the new truck will be offered in several body styles and wheelbases, just as the old one was. There have been rumors of a pickup truck version, possibly a 2-door, to compete with the rest-of-world Mercedes X-Class and Volkswagen Amarok.

Your Land Rover news round-up for June - some interesting items to note.

We still have not seen or heard anything useful regarding the highly secretive replacement for the discontinued Land Rover Defender. Some of the major UK automotive blogs continue to post up the same concept images that pop up every few months whenever there is some tiny morsel of speculation in the press. Those are always followed on the forums and Facebook groups by a new wave of comments from the late-comers who somehow haven’t seen the pictures before. I will spare your eyes and not report the images here. With Land Rover vehicles' reputations for leaking, it's surprising nothing's dribbled out yet.

It has been said, amongst those whose opinions may be biased, that Land Rover doesn’t build “real off roaders” any more. I, for one, beg to differ with that notion. While it is true that we won’t ever likely see a new vehicle from Land Rover or anyone else with the rugged simplicity, ease of maintenance, and straightforward utility offered by the Defender and Series vehicles, Land Rover has shown us over and over again that, despite outward appearances dominated by sweeping lines, low profile tires, and plastic trim, the company has remained dedicated to building vehicles whose off-pavement abilities go beyond those offered “out of the box” by most other manufacturers. Their R&D shops continually seek to create unique features that exist for only one purpose, and that is to get you to and from your destination, regardless of what kind of surface must be traversed along the way. Within reason of course.

Jaguar Land Rover is considering the production of a 300 horsepower performance-minded Evoque, reports Autocar.

Rumors have been circulating recently about the introduction of a new Land Rover model to fill the current void between the top-end Evoque and the entry-level Range Rover Sport.

Spy photographers snapped this telling shot of a Range Rover with quad-exhausts and larger air intakes in a retooled front bumper that some say could be a clue to Range Rover's ever-upscale climb...

Castle Bromwich or Solihull: Which one was going to be shut down? Maybe both? Well now, thanks to a record 60% rise in car sales in February and the replacement of the old boss, things are looking up.

The idea is to launch it in conjunction with the Range Rover's 40th birthday, which adds a compelling bit of weight to the rumor that this could be showcased in your garage by early 2011.

A Swedish auto components supplier is saying they’ve received an order from Land Rover for an all-wheel-drive system for a new car to go into production by 2011. That's right; a car.

What is this??

Can we call it the LRXL?