2020 Land Rover Defender gets filthy and flies in ‘No Time to Die’

The James Bond movie “Spectre” might have been a so-so cinematic effort, but it had its high points. One of them was the snowy alpine chase scene through Austria involving a Range Rover Sport SVR and two brutish Land Rover Defender SVXs that each came to be nicknamed “Bigfoot.” The Defender nameplate returns for the upcoming Bond film “No Time to Die,” but of course this will be the new Defender 110 making its filmic debut. The movie doesn’t hit theaters until next April. But ahead of Land Rover bringing the movie car to a private preview the night before the L.A. Auto Show, the carmaker wanted to provide a glimpse of what the SUV went through on set.

Special Effects and Action Vehicles Supervisor Chris Corbould, who worked with Land Rover on the “Spectre” cars, returned to Solihull to develop the new chase vehicles. Based on the brief video above, it looks like there’s a squad of Defender X trucks. The X is the top-tier trim with the 395-horsepower 3.0-liter V6 and all the gewgaws, including satin-finish skid plates and an electronic differential that would be handy for keeping up with the preferred rides of MI6 spies. The Defenders are painted Santorini Black, every suave villain’s favorite shade of black, kitted out with darkened skid plates and dark 20-inch wheels on knobby rubber. Stunt driver Jess Hawkins called the movie trucks “pretty much standard out of the factory,” not including the roll cages and Sabelt seats. We imagine those two tweaks were helpful when one of the Defenders exceeded its maximum tilt angle.

The Defenders join a cavalcade of new and old machinery parading through the film. Land Rover also contributed a Land Rover Series III and Range Rover Classic. Sister brand Jaguar’s got an XF sedan and F-Pace SUV in front of the camera. There’s at least one Triumph motorcycle, and Aston Martin scores four cameos with the DB5, Aston Martin V8, DBS Superleggera and Valhalla.