Land Rover’s new ‘baby Defender’ off-road SUV has been spied testing again, this time revealing more clues to its final look ahead of an expected introduction in 2027 – and further clues to what it will be called. 

Fresh images from British publication Autocar show more details, including a better look at the high waistline, tall doors, and trademark clamshell bonnet of the rugged, upmarket SUV.

The blistered doors seen in the images are likely misdirection, as the camouflaged test car appears to follow the same overall look as the current Defender, below which it will be positioned as a smaller, more affordable entry-level off roader.

It features the same flush door handles and outward-opening tailgate – including what appears to be provision for an externally mounted spare wheel – as the vehicle seen in spy images from last month. 

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Autocar suggests the smaller SUV could be named ‘Defender Sport’, which would be consistent with the names of the smaller Range Rover Sport and Discovery Sport models, and that it could actually replace the current Discovery Sport first introduced back in 2014.

Any naming decision would also be consistent with the latest ‘House of brands’ approach by JLR (formerly known as Jaguar Land Rover), in which model names including Defender and Discovery are ‘dialled up’ and treated as unique sub-brands within Land Rover.

According to Autocar, the Defender Sport name was inadvertently added to Land Rover’s public website but visible only via internet search engines. 

However, there’s also a chance JLR could use a numerical name for its smaller Defender, which could potentially be designated as the ‘Defender 80’ to position it below the existing Defender 90, 110 and 130 model derivatives.