Land Rover has reinvigorated the past shape Defender with the “Works V8 Trophy” to be produced in 25 examples between the 90 and 110 spec. 

Owners will be flown to Eastnor Castle, the home of Land Rover testing and development, for a one-off event where they will compete against each other.

Essentially the spec will be a derivative of the 70th-anniversary specials of the Defender which was also reincarnated briefly in 2018. These sold out immediately and despite estimated price tags of in excess of NZ$500,000 once landed in New Zealand, I reckon these too will sell out.

You get a 5.0 V8 good for 298kW with an eight-speed ZF transmission. Each will be decked out in Eastnor Yellow, with contrasting parts in Narvik Black, and then complemented with LED headlights.

Donor models making up the “Trophy” will be low mileage models sold between 2012 and 2016 and they will be completely rebirthed.

The original Defender craze knows no ends and will only intensify given the new model and the fact they aren’t making the old again. In an almost perverse way, buying one almost makes sense.