New Land Rover Defender DC 100 and DC 100 Sport Concepts at Delhi

New Land Rover Defender DC 100 at Delhi with new paint job

Land Rover has taken newly painted versions – in  Firenze Red – of the new Defender Concept 100 and 100 Sport to the Delhi Auto Expo 2012.

Land Rover has been busy at the last two motor shows giving us a glimpse or three of their take on the next generation Land Rover Defender, in the shape of the Defender Concept 100 (DC 100) and Defender Concept 100 Sport (DC 100 Sport). And they’re at it again at the Delhi Motor show, with a pair of freshly painted Concepts on show.

We have to admit that both the regular DC 100 and the Sport look good with their new coat of Firenze Red paint, and we’re sure  the Tata Mothership will approve. From our point of view, we can’t actually see what’s changed on the Defender Concept since it’s last outing – apart from the colour – so we assume they must be the same.

But that still means a pretty decent stab at a future Defender (Project Icon) even if the DC 100 looks a bit of a caricature of the current Defender, and the DC 100 Sports looks very ‘Concepty’. But you have to start somewhere.

Under the skin we’re assured that the Defender Concepts are very much Land Rover Plus. That means the full Terrain Response System we already know, but with knobs on. Those knobs means the Terrain Response get clever and can work out for you what’s coming up and set the system up automatically.

Land Rover are calling it Terrain-i (it could be worse – they could have gone for iTerrain), and it creates an intelligent map of the topography in front of the car and displays it as a 3D visualisation and automatically identifies potential hazards and suggests alternatives. It can also pull a similar trick in urban environments with pedestrians.

There’s also Wade Aid, which not only measures water depth but sets the Defender up in the optimum fashion to Ford the surging torrent before you. There’s also Twin-Solenoid Stop-Start which works with the new 8-speed auto ‘box, and Driveline Disconnenct which physically removes the rear axle drive when it’s not needed.

Despite a few criticisms (you expect that, don’t you?) we like the direction Land Rover are going with the new Defender. We do worry it may be a bit too high-tech for real jungle-bashing stuff (but we think there are plans to keep the current Defender in production for those sorts of use), and the new styling is interesting – it’s just not quite there yet.

But there’s plenty of time to tweak and fettle between now and the eventual launch of the all new Land Rover Defender in 2015.

(11 photos – click any thumbnail for full gallery)

By Cars UK