Rolling out its most extensive update since the model’s 2020 relaunch, British automobile company Land Rover has introduced a new trim for its Defender lineup, aimed at giving the SUV a bolder, more distinct character. Alongside the new Vertex trim, the brand has revised colours, accessories and engines across the range, broadening Defender’s appeal without moving away from what has made it one of the brand’s most successful nameplates.
With its introduction of the Vertex trim, Defender gets a tougher, more muscular face. It gets extended front and rear bumpers, a bigger front grille and new fog lamps, all finished in a matte grey called Shadow Atlas. A gloss black spoiler sits on the tail door, and yellow brake calipers and yellow recovery eyes add a splash of colour against the darker body. Body-coloured cladding runs along the lower sides of the truck, making it look lower and longer than before.
New 22-inch wheels come as standard, with two other wheel sizes offered as options. Inside, buyers can choose Windsor Leather and Forged textile seats in Ebony or Caraway/Ebony, or Ultrafabrics seats in Light Cloud/Lunar, with Ebony Forged textile introduced as a new material for Defender. Three-zone climate control, Cabin Air Purification Plus, an Air Quality Sensor and a domestic plug socket are standard on the 90 and 110, with the 130 upgraded to four-zone climate control.
Buyers who like the Vertex look but want a different trim can now add the Extended Exterior Pack to X-Dynamic SE, X-Dynamic HSE, the Hard Top and V8 models. The pack includes the same bumpers, the rear spoiler and a body-coloured spare wheel cover, along with four wheel choices ranging from 20 to 22 inches.
Land Rover has used this kind of setup before on Range Rover, offering a flagship trim’s design details as an add-on for cheaper models, and its arrival on Defender suggests the strategy has worked well enough to repeat.
The Trophy Edition, which came back last year as a tribute to Defender’s rally history, now comes in a new colour called Santorini Black, which replaces Keswick Green. It is combined with the already available Deep Sandglow Yellow option.
This model rolls on 20-inch black steel-style wheels, with black brake calipers and black steering wheel spokes, it carries Trophy badges across the dashboard and treadplates. Buyers can choose between three interior looks: standard Ebony Windsor Leather with Ebony Morzine headlining and a Deep Sandglow Yellow Cross Car Beam, optional Caraway Windsor Leather with a Satin Black Cross Car Beam, or Light Cloud Windsor Leather with a matching Light Cloud Cross Car Beam. Its accessory pack adds a roof rack, a roof ladder, a side-mounted gear carrier and a raised air intake, all aimed at serious off-road use.
Defender OCTA, the range’s most powerful version, now comes in a new green shade called Woolstone Green. The model retains its wider stance, with a choice of dedicated all-season or off-road tyres and optional Chopped Carbon Fibre interior elements. In the UK, Europe and some overseas markets, changes to the exhaust give the V8 a deeper sound.
This kind of detail matters more than it seems, since exhaust noise is tightly controlled by regulation these days, and most brands now shape engine sound through the exhaust manifold rather than simply making it louder. Both OCTA and OCTA Black get a gloss black spoiler as standard, and for the first time, OCTA Black can be ordered with a carbon fibre exterior pack.
Land Rover has also expanded the colour range to 15 options in total. The newest is Namib Orange, named after the orange sand dunes on Namibia’s coast, near where the current Defender was first shown to the world in 2020, and it can also be specified with the Extended Exterior Pack on X-Dynamic models. A new gloss protective film joins the existing matte version, using sunlight to heal small scratches over time, a feature that has slowly become common across premium SUVs over the last couple of years.
The Defender 110 now offers six seats for the first time, arranged in a 2+2+2 layout, with a pair of independent captain chairs in the second row instead of a bench seat. Each chair reclines, has its own armrest and extra padding, and the new layout makes the third row easier to reach while adding luggage space between the two middle seats. Rivals like the Toyota Land Cruiser and Mercedes-Benz G-Class have offered similar seating for years, so this brings Defender in line with what buyers in this segment have come to expect.
The upgrade has introduced some new accessories. The new roof-mounted lights are suitable for both water and dust and offer a luminous power of 9,000 lumens in addition to the main headlights.. A 60-litre gear carrier attaches to the tail door and locks shut. The Tail Door Spoiler, standard on Vertex and included in the Extended Exterior Pack, is available in Gloss Black, Fuji White or Santorini Black, or in a primed finish for full colour matching. Three accessory packs, called Explorer, Adventure and Urban, are built around different types of use, from off-roading to city driving.
A new voice assistant, switched on by saying “Hey Land Rover,” uses AI to understand more natural requests, following the same shift most car brands have made away from fixed voice commands. A new Technology Pack, available on S, X-Dynamic SE and X-Dynamic HSE, bundles a domestic plug socket, head-up display, Meridian Surround Sound System and Clear-Sight Interior Rearview Mirror.
On the mechanical side, Defender gets a new 3.0-litre six-cylinder petrol engine called P380, producing 550Nm of torque. A second new 3.0-litre six-cylinder engine, called P300, replaces the older four-cylinder unit in some markets, and the 5.0-litre V8 will now only be sold in select markets. Defender OCTA’s twin-turbo V8 has been updated for the 2027 model year, now making 540PS with torque unchanged at 750Nm, taking the truck from 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds. These changes line up with new emissions rules across Europe, ahead of even stricter limits due at the end of 2027.
Mark Cameron, Defender Brand Director, said, “The latest updates to Defender deliver refreshed design details and give our clients even greater choice when it comes to customisation, without compromising Defender’s toughness or off-road capability. With Vertex and the Extended Exterior Pack, we’re introducing a new character that expands the appeal of Defender for both existing and new clients.”
Defender has emerged as Land Rover’s best-selling model by a wide margin, with over 115,000 units sold globally in 2024 and similar numbers through 2025, ahead of both the Range Rover Sport and the full-size Range Rover. It has also overtaken the Discovery as the brand’s main high-volume model.
