Defender Unveils 635PS Dakar Road Car After 1-2 Rally-Raid Breakthrough

3 articles · Updated · DirtFish · Aug 14

Defender showed its limited-run Dakar road car at The Quail in California, turning the D7X-R rally winner into a road-legal preview model ahead of reservations in early 2027.
635PS and 750Nm come from a 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8, while the car keeps the race machine’s D7x architecture, transmission and driveline but adds 35-inch tires, Bilstein dampers and Dunes, Gravel and Flight modes.
Dakar success drove the project: the D7X-R scored a Dakar 1-2 for Rokas Baciuška and Sara Price, then added podium lockouts in Portugal and Argentina in the World Rally-Raid Championship.
130,000-plus U.S. sales since Defender’s return five years ago give the launch a commercial backdrop, with fuller specifications due at January’s Dakar Rally.