SPY PICS: Land Rover Defender 130 hits the Nurburgring

The big new 2023 Land Rover Defender 130 is shaping up ahead of its anticipated world debut later this year.

Pitched as a capable eight-seat off-roader, Land Rover is seemingly intent on ensuring the Defender 130 is also well sorted on-road, if new spy pics from Germany’s gruelling Nurburgring are any guide.

Clad in camouflage, the Defender 130 prototype in these fresh spy shots unsurprisingly retains the same basic design cues as the Defender 90 and Defender 110, and is similarly aligned with recent patent drawings.

The 130 takes the regular Defender 110 – recently named carsales’ Best Off-road SUV – and stretches its overhangs for additional third-row space.

Unlike previous Defender 130s, which featured a stretched wheelbase (usually 130 inches), the 2023 model is expected to retain the same basic on-road footprint of its Defender 110 donor.

Initial reports suggest it will employ the same 3022mm wheelbase as the 110 but add another 340mm in overall length – to bring overall length to a long 5100mm.

As far as powertrains go, expect the Defender 130 to be offered with a 220kW 3.0-litre inline six-cylinder mild-hybrid, a mightier 294kW 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-petrol engine and a flagship 386kW/625Nm 5.0-litre supercharged V8. The plug-in hybrid P300e will also be available.

It’s unclear exactly when we'll see the Defender 130 officially unveiled, but the finish and location of this test mule suggests its revealed could be only a matter of months away.

That would likely mean the Defender 130 will land in Aussie showrooms in first half of 2023.

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