Land Rover Defender update brings styling tweaks, new touchscreen

The Land Rover Defender has been updated with a series of subtle styling tweaks and reworked interior technology, including a larger infotainment touchscreen.

The exterior refresh includes a revised headlight design with a smaller centre section – said to provide a “distinctive” graphic when activated – as well as the application of a smoked tint to the rear lights.

A gloss black grille bar becomes a standard fitment and the front and rear bumpers are now painted either silver or satin grey. 

Inside, the revised Defender gets a larger, 13.1in touchscreen (up from the current 11.4in), which completely fills the gap between the centre console and the upper surface of the dashboard. 

The update also introduces a driver-facing infrared camera on the steering column, which underpins the driver attention monitoring system mandated by the European Union’s GSR2 legislation. This triggers audio and visual alerts if it detects a driver is not paying attention to the road ahead, but it can be adjusted or disabled altogether using the driver assistance settings in the infotainment. 

Land Rover’s adaptive off-road cruise control system is also being offered on the Defender for the first time, as an optional extra.

Land Rover has yet to announce which powertrains it will offer in the updated Defender but the current line-up is not expected to change. This comprises a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged diesel straight six with 246bhp or 345bhp; a 2.0-litre petrol plug-in hybrid with 296bhp and 30 miles of electric range; and a supercharged 5.0-litre petrol V8 with outputs of 419bhp, 493bhp or 518bhp. 

The range-topping Defender Octa remains available, packing a 626bhp twin-turbocharged 4.4-litre V8 supplied by BMW.