Defender OCTA
Pictures courtesy of JLR
Words by LRLife
Land Rover teased us in March 2024, with the first official press release. Before then, there were only various spy photo’s around. One thing was clear, that it was going to be a fire breathing halo model for the Defender range. The V8 was already out and about, so to eclipse that it needed to be special. I, for one, was expecting the SVX name to be brought out of retirement when the official model was finally announced – but no.
It was to be called the Defender OCTA, more on the name later, and it was going to be powered by a V8 twin turbocharged engine. The suspension had been reworked too, now sporting the 6D dynamics first seen on the new Range Rover Sport. The Defender Octa, according to the marketing information, was going to be the “toughest, most capable and luxurious Defender ever”. Our appetites, for sure were wetted.
In April, the world was treated to the official launch date – 3rd July, with preview events being held for prospective clients.
Wide arches and Quad Exhaust give the OCTA presence
As you would expect from the roughest / toughest Defender off all, the testing was also quite extreme. Racetracks, rally stages and rock crawls were all tackled as part of the three-year program. Yes, you read that correctly, a Defender being tested on a racetrack just like any other performance car. During the, just shy of, 14,000 additional tests, the OCTA would be tested at the Nürburgring, on wet tarmac, on Ice, across rally raid stages, bashing sand dunes and tackling rock crawls. All this on top of the already arduous testing from the original Defender development.
Come the 7th July, the official press release broke. We were finally treated to why it was called the OCTA. Inspired by a diamonds octahedral shape, it is also the hardest natural material on earth and also quite desirable – apparently.
Note the twin raised air intakes!
To add to the OCTA’s already immense appeal visual tweaks were undertaken too. With more ground clearance than standard (28mm), the OCTA could tackle 1-meter-deep water crossings, a full 100mm more than the standard Defender. The arches were also flared giving a wider stance (68mm), with the extra height and width it gave the already imposing Defender even more menace. A few special OCTA graphics added and what you have is something very special indeed.
You could specify your OCTA with two different tyre and wheel combinations. For those who wanted a top speed of 150 mph, 22” Alloy wheels and all-season tyres were available, but for those who wanted to venture off road something special was available. Fitted to forged 20” wheels, 33” Diameter tyres could be specified. Called Advance All Terrain Tyre, Goodyear developed these for the OCTA. Land Rover had to extend the wheel arches to accommodate these.
At the time of writing the OCTA is only available as a 110. Whether this will extend into the 90 and 130 body styles only time will tell.
You know you have something special when Goodyear needed to develop a new tyre for it.