Land Rover to show updated DC100 concept at LA Auto Show

At the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, Land Rover unveiled the DC100 Concept, a study that hints at the future of the Defender SUV, which will arrive in 2015. According to Global Brand Director John Edwards, the new Defender ‘must be capable, usable and abusable and appropriate for the Third World market.’

Edwards said that with the new Defender, Land Rover wants to go back to its roots. He said “sometimes we talk too much about the NAS [North American specification] 90 Defender and surfer dudes, and not enough about the Red Cross, Zambia or the Australian Outback.”

While Land Rover has yet to officially confirm the new Defender for the North American market, it will show an updated version of the DC100 at next month’s 2011 LA Auto Show, to see what the U.S. public things about the SUV.

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Check out our original post on the Land Rover DC100 Concept.

“I had predicted we’d get a lot of reaction and that some of it would be negative,” said Edwards. “I was involved in the development of the [2000] Mini and when I showed the R50 concept to the owner’s clubs, some of them wanted to kill us. That is what you must expect. Overall, the reaction to DC100 reinforced what we wanted to do and told us that we’re pretty much on the right track.”

Refresher: The Land Rover DC100 Concept and the DC100 Sport Concept are powered by a 2.0 liter 4-cylinder diesel engine with hybrid compatibility. The engine is mated to an 8speed transmission with Intelligent Stop / Star and Intelligent four-wheel drive with torque vectoring and Driveline Disconnect.

– By: Omar Rana

Source: Inside Line