Frankfurt 2011: Land Rover DC100 Concept Previews Defender

America has the Wrangler, Japan has the Land Cruiser and Patrol, and Britain has the Defender.  Well, and the Bowler Wildcat and Nemesis.  But while the Defender continues to carry LR's true off-roader torch (it received a new emissions-compliant 2.2L Diesel for this year!), it's not long for this world.

Land Rover without a Defender is like Chevrolet without a Corvette, so a replacement is in the works.  This concept car to debut at the Frankfurt Show this year, dubbed the DC100, is a preview of a modernized Defender.

So... what is is?  Well, Land Rover has been pretty sparse on actual details on the DC100 concept, and they've only released the two pictures you see here.  From it's general proportions, it looks related to the Evoque soft-roader, which I find a bit hard to believe is a reasonable basis for a Defender replacement, but we just don't know.  The off-road "covered with mud" shot looks a bit forced, but it's still nice to see a concept car on a trail.  I wouldn't have wanted to be the guy to take a multi-million-dollar bespoke concept truck onto a trail, that's for sure.

LR does say it intends to produce a Defender replacement by 2015, but not necessarily that it'll look like the DC100.  More details on this intriguing concept will be revealed September 13 at Frankfurt, so stay tuned!