High-Performance Land Rover Defender OCTA To Be Revealed On 3 July

It’s proving to be a big year for vast, slab-shaped 4x4s with ridiculous turbocharged V8 powerplants. We’ve only just seen the updated Mercedes-AMG G63, and now we have a reveal date for what’s likely to be its chief rival: the Land Rover Defender OCTA, which will make its full debut on 3 July.

We first heard about the OCTA in March, with confirmation that it’ll be sporting a twin-turbo V8. While unconfirmed, it’s highly likely this will be the same 4.4-litre BMW unit that powers the new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport. In the high-performance SV version of the latter, it produces 626bhp, a significant gain over the 518bhp offered by the current range-topping Defender with JLR’s old 5.0-litre supercharged V8.

Of course, giving something the size and shape of a Defender that much power challenges engineers to overcome the basic laws of physics, and Land Rover’s solution is a trick new ‘6D Dynamics’ suspension system. This hydraulically linked system actively controls pitch and roll, which will apparently allow the OCTA to maintain a “near-level” stance during acceleration, braking and cornering.

The 6D Dynamics system will also allow for maximised independent wheel articulation off-road, which is where the OCTA is being pitched as at its best. Previous teaser images show both some hardcore off-road tyres and big Brembo performance brake callipers, suggesting both aspects of the car’s personalities are being taken seriously.

The OCTA’s testing programme has incorporated the Arctic Circle, the Nürburgring and the deserts of Dubai and Utah, and has involved sending it along everything from rock crawls to rally stages.

It’s unknown whether the OCTA treatment will be given to all three Defender body styles – all the teasers so far only show the mid-sized 110.

Inside and out, the OCTA will feature a motif of a diamond within a circle, a symbol that will denote all future flagship Defenders as Land Rover attempts to reposition the model as its own brand – indeed, all the material on the car makes no reference to the ‘Land Rover’ name at all.

Land Rover is really emphasising the car’s exclusivity – it’s confirmed just 1,070 will come to the UK during its first year of production. Prospective buyers are being invited to seven global preview events between now and the July reveal, where they’ll be able to see the car in full and presumably cough up a healthy six-figure sum for it.