Frankfurt Live: Land Rover Defender DC100 & Sport Concepts

One of the best launches at the 2011 IAA Frankfurt Motor Show in my humble opinion was the unveiling that Land Rover put on for the extremely large crowd of journalists yesterday in Hall 5. Many images surfaced over the past few weeks of a concept vehicle designed to put the popular but dated Defender edition back into production and everyone finally managed to feast their eyes on real-life prototypes at the Show.

Set to launch in 2015, the first unveil was that of the hardtop DC100 Concept. According to Design Director Gerry McGovern who was on stage to help build excitement before the covers came off, Land Rover have put forward three concepts which could make it into production, with the 100 inch wheelbase DC100 a strong contender to be the eventual replacement for the 67-year-old Defender.

Design cues have been evidently taking from both old and new Land Rover lineups. A rugged front grille and box-shaped roof to tie in with Defender history really showcase clean lines which is an effect transmitted onto the sumptuous Range Rove Evoque. This concept is a 3 door with a 4x4 drive system which can tackle any terrain and scale seemingly impossible terrain. Indeed in the video short we were shown before the unveiling, we saw the DC100 pounding through rain-swept lands and hard rock-faces. I'm sure anyone who actually buys this beauty will want to get any specks of dirt on it at all though.

Innovations in these futuristic concepts include an off-road terrain scanning device to detect potential obstacles and a sonar depth-sounder for fording through rivers. Truly incredible technology!

Yet more impressive was the sudden roll-out of the DC100 Sport Concept onto the stage which was met by shrieks of excitement and the sound of a million shutters all scrambling to get a picture of the orange/yellow open-top variant. The exterior body work is understandably loud and attention-seeking so if these concepts were to make it into production, we would expect a touch of normality to be resumed.

With great power comes great responsibility, and Land Rover's management and team know that it will be difficult to make this a smooth transition from such an iconic Defender shape and purpose that has been with us for over half a century. In my opinion the Defender DC100 Concept achieves the rugged nature that any hardcore Land Rover is supposed to possess and manages to wow with in-your-face styling. I would be amazed if the high-tech interior makes it into the real-life model which should be in dealerships in a couple of years but then again we only need to take a look at the high-def large touchscreen found in the McLaren MP4-12C to have a good understanding of how far we've come technologically.

Jaguar Land Rover as a brand have coloured me deeply impressed both with these DC100 Concepts and the C-X16 concept sports car and I can't wait to see what happens when they start on factory production if ever.