Has Lego just revealed the new Land Rover Defender?

Monday, 24 June 2019

Land Rover has been playing its cards very close to its chest in regards to exactly what its all-new Defender will actually look like when it is revealed later this year, it seems Lego - or, at least, one of its retailers - may not have been quite so careful.

Images have appeared on Lego news website The Brothers Brick of an unreleased Defender set that the site says is a 'replica of the legendary utility vehicle.'

However, based on the spy shots of the new Defender 90 that we have already seen, we have a number of fairly convincing reasons to believe that the new Technic set is based on the upcoming model.

Is this the new 2020 Land Rover Defender? Probably.

Twitter user Bob's Vintage Bricks also tweeted the images that apparently first appeared on a UK toy store website. The store has since removed the images.

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Despite the heavy disguise, a number of cues can be made out the feature on the Lego model.

While it is hard to be completely certain when it comes to blocky Lego sets, things like the modern grille, integrated winch (prototypes of the Defender have been spotted with one), bulging wheel archs and the spacing of the lower bumper all line up fairly accurately with what we can make out on the heavily-disguised test vehicles in recent photographs.

The Lego set is of the two-door model, which has been seen testing, and while the test cars are all heavily disguised, the white roof on the model is an interesting new piece of information and the overall look appears to be way more consciously retro that we might have imagined.

Which, rather awesomely, means Land Rover may well have taken the Mercedes-Benz G-wagen/Suzuki Jimny route with the new Defender, although we would expect it to be far closer to the high-tech opulence (and price) of the big G-wagen than the functional, tough and basic Jimny.

Brothers Brick says that this is the very first time a Lego Technic model is being made in the olive green colour and that the assembled product will be 42 cm long, 22 cm high and 20 cm wide.

It will be made up of 2,573 pieces and is said to come with working steering, four-speed gearbox, three differentials and working suspension.

The final kicker that pretty much confirms this is the look of the new Defender? The set is rumoured to go on sale in October (although this is yet to be confirmed by Lego) , while the new Defender is set to be revealed in September.