Land Rover Defender with V8 engine under development.

Land Rover has unveiled the all-new Defender for 2020, the first new Defender in more than 30 years and a big leap forward from its predecessor in quality, refinement, and technology.

While it has yet to make a performance leap over its predecessor, that will come soon; Autocar reported Tuesday that Land Rover is testing a prototype of the Defender with a V8 engine.

So far, only a 2.0-liter turbocharged inline-4 with 296 hp and a mild hybrid setup with a 3.0-liter turbocharged inline-6 with 395 hp have been announced for the Defender; if a V-8 option is added, the Defender's output could exceed 500 hp.

The engine Land Rover is currently testing is Jaguar Land Rover's 5.0-liter V-8 supercharger. However, production of this Ford engine is scheduled to end later this year, at which point Jaguar Land Rover is expected to switch to a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V-8 engine from BMW. The latest version of the 4.4-liter V-8 engine starts at 523 hp and tops out at over 600 hp.

Land Rover is only developing a Defender chassis with a V-8 engine at this time and may swap in a 4.4-liter V-8 engine as development progresses.

An alternative is that Land Rover may have enough of the older 5.0-liter V-8 engine stockpiled until it is ready to switch to the 4.4-liter V-8 engine. This is related to reports in 2019 that Land Rover will use a 4.4-liter V-8 in the high-performance Defender, developed by Jaguar Land Rover's SVO Skunkworks and targeted at the Mercedes-AMG G63.

According to Autocar, a Defender with a regular V-8 engine will not appear until late 2021; an SVO version will appear even later; and the Defender's V8 engine will be available in the G63's V8 version, which will be available in the G63's V8 version.

If the V-8 is not needed, the first new Defender models are expected to arrive at dealerships this spring, although the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic could delay this. Prices start at $50,925 including destination.