The rumour mill continues to stir for the next Land Rover Defender, due to be revealed in 2018 and go on sale in SA in 2019, but this is the first time one of our spies has spotted a test mule related to it. This strange-looking shortened Range Rover appears to be a test bed for the three-door "90" Defender. We’ve seen plenty of unusual test mules, but this looks to be one of the oddest. Viewed from the front and rear it looks entirely like a disguised Range Rover Sport, but side-on we can see that a huge chunk of the SUV’s wheelbase has been lopped out making it look strangely like an SUV version of Mahindra’s G-Wiz electric vehicle. Re-imagining a cult classic is not an easy task and in Land Rover’s case it has to build a brand new 4x4 that is incredibly competent off-road, while also meeting modern standards in terms of comfort and making money on a car likely to sell in small numbers. It is expected that the Defender will use parts from other Land Rover vehicles and be built alo...

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