New range-topping Land Rover Defender Octa to debut on 3 July

The new Land Rover Defender Octa – a range-topping model with BMW V8 – will debut on 3 July with limited numbers available in the UK.

We had a tease for the new electric Range Rover earlier this week, and now JLR is back with a tease for the new range-topping Land Rover Defender Octa and the announcement it will debut on 3 July.

First teased last month, the Defender Octa – which we thought would be the Defender SVX – heralds a new badge for Land Rover’s range-topping models, and it’s going to be a Defender with the dial turned up to 11 and likely to cost north of £150k.

What the new Octa model also heralds is the arrival of the BMW V8 in the Defender, probably signalling JLR is finally running out of the old Ford supercharged V8, and we can probably expect it – with less power than the Octa – to start arriving in the regular Defender V8 before too long.

In the Octa, it seems likely the BMW V8 will be tuned to the same level as the Range Rover Sport SV – 626bhp and 590lb/ft of torque – and with the same ‘6D Dynamic’ suspension, complete with Brembo brakes to haul it in.

Land Rover has subjected it to an additional 13,960 tests in a wide range of territories and climates from Dubai to the Nurburgring and Sweden to ensure the Octa is as good as it can be.

The first year’s UK allocation for the Octa is limited to 1,070 units. Whether that’s to encourage potential buyers to get in quick or because JLR thinks that’ll be all they can flog, is anyone’s guess.