Land Rover Defender is Top Gear’s Car of the Year

New Land Rover Defender: Bestowed with Two Globally-Recognised Awards

Named overall Car of the Year while also securing the Unstoppable Force award in this year’s coveted TopGear.com Awards.

The new Land Rover Defender has been bestowed with two further globally-recognised awards being named overall Car of the Year while also securing the Unstoppable Force award in this year’s coveted TopGear.com Awards.

Judges of the prestigious prize praised the new Defender for being one of the toughest vehicles on the road today, and a brilliant successor to the original iconic Land Rover, as a car for the 21st century that performs brilliantly everywhere.

"Car of the Year is an accolade won by only the very best of the best. We recognise that replacing an icon is an unenviable task, and one Land Rover rightly took its time to get right."

"We've now driven one across the Namibian desert - and in properly harsh environments, like the M25 - in both 110 and 90 forms, with every engine under the bonnet and it just performs brilliantly everywhere. There's an argument that because it costs a bit more it won't be used properly by the farming and rural community, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be... It's the toughest, most capable off-roader we've ever tested, but one that's a refined, well-equipped family car around town."

"Congratulations to everyone at Land Rover."

Jack Rix

Editor, Top Gear Magazine

"It's an absolute honour for us to receive Top Gear's Car of the Year award for our New Defender. Right from the start of creating this vehicle with the blank sheet of paper, we were obsessed about respecting its heritage and keeping its true authenticity, as well as ensuring it is completely fitting for today’s ever-evolving world. We have worked tirelessly to deliver a vehicle that has incredible off-road capability, as well as on-road poise and driveability. Additionally, we have ensured that the New Defender is completely connected, with our new Electrical Vehicle Architecture (EVA2), Pivi Pro infotainment system and Software Over the Air (SOTA) updates to continually enhance the Defender operating system."

"We are especially proud of this recognition from Top Gear, which is a testament to the dedication of our JLR Family who have created a vehicle that we believe is truly worthy of the Defender name."

Nick Rogers

Executive Director, Product Engineering, Jaguar Land Rover