New Defender Shows Its Grit in No Time To Die
The new Land Rover Defender in No Time To Die made its film debut in the 25th James Bond movie as the first production-spec Defender 110 to appear in a Bond chase sequence, surviving a 100-foot jump, high-speed rough terrain driving and multiple flips without modification beyond a roll cage, race harnesses and underbody protection.
The New Defender Earns Its Reputation on Set
When the design of the new Land Rover Defender was revealed in 2019, opinions divided. The original Defender carried one of the most instantly recognizable silhouettes in automotive history, and any departure from its hard edges and utilitarian honesty was always going to attract scrutiny. What could not be questioned, however, was its mechanical performance: Land Rover arranged to put the new Defender through its paces on the set of No Time To Die as stunt co-ordinator Lee Morrison's team pushed it to destruction.
What the No Time To Die Defender Involved
Land Rover supplied ten Defender 110s for the production, all based on the X specification in Santorini Black with darkened skid pans, 20-inch dark finish wheels and professional off-road tyres. These were among the first cars off the production line at Land Rover's Nitra factory in Slovakia. Internally, each stunt car received a full roll cage, five-point race harnesses, a vertical handbrake lever and reinforced underbody protection. Externally, they were standard production vehicles. Stunt co-ordinator Morrison expected each Defender to survive two or three takes of the water-splash jump sequence; in the end they went flying seven times, the Defenders undefeated.
Why the Defender Was Right for Bond
The Defender's wading capability, approach and departure angles, and the proven robustness of its aluminum architecture made it the natural choice for a chase sequence set in environments that would destroy most cars within the first take. Land Rover's publicity around the shoot was equally calculated: showing pre-production units surviving genuine abuse was more persuasive than any traditional press launch. The resulting footage, released before the film's theatrical premiere, demonstrated convincingly that the new Defender retained the durability that defined its predecessor across decades of military, agricultural and extreme off-road use.
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Sources: Land Rover Newsroom, Top Gear, CarBuzz
