We don’t know much about the 2020 Land Rover Defender other than the fact that it’s got the basic boxy silhouette off-road enthusiasts are fond of. But today, a clear picture of what sure looks like the new Defender dashboard popped up on Twitter, and we know that it’s real because Land Rover’s people are not happy.
The picture was posted to Twitter by a user by the name of Robert Charles, whose Twitter description says that he designs jewelry inspired by motorsport:
And normally, photos like this are the sort of thing you take with a big grain of salt. Is this a real photograph? Is this a render? Maybe it’s just a Photoshop, placing it somewhere in between the two?
But Jaguar Land Rover inadvertently confirmed it, when one of its PR people threatened to sic what appears to be a rapid-response forward-deployed legal team over A Tweet:
Richard Agnew identifies himself as Land Rover Comms & PR Director on Twitter, by the way.
Update: I reached out to Land Rover’s PR people here in the U.S., who informed me that this was “not part of a PR operation” and that the image in question is an “older out-of-date internal photo.” But as to how old, and in what way it is out of date, company reps declined to comment on.
So, it looks like some people were invited to see either a prototype or final production version of the 2020 Defender with the stipulation that they were not allowed to take pictures of it. That’s pretty common in the automotive industry, as is somebody breaking the non-disclosure agreement, because that’s how this business works, and none of this really matters once we’re hit by an asteroid anyway.
But the good news for us, and anybody else anxiously awaiting images of Land Rover’s next off-road SUV, is that the companies PR guy threatening legal action seems like a pretty solid indication that the image is legitimate.
Hat tip to The Drive!