Land Rover Kills The Base Defender 90, Starting Price Goes Way Up

And buyers can now option the Defender with a new Adaptive Off-Road Cruise Control system. But there’s another change that won’t be a hit with buyers. The entry-level Land Rover Defender just got way more expensive.

It's official: The base Land Rover Defender 90 trim with its short two-door wheelbase and sub-$60,000 starting price is dead. Land Rover quietly removed it from the customer-facing website, and the company's press release listed the larger four-door as the starting point in the 2026 lineup. To make sure, CarBuzz contacted Land Rover and a spokesperson confirmed the news. If you want a two-door Defender, the V8 is your only option and it's not cheap. We'll discuss that in a bit.

The 2026 Land Rover Defender Price Now Starts At $63,500

In 2025, the Land Rover Defender started at $56,900 for the Defender 90 P300 S trim. That starting point has now jumped to $63,500, an 11.5% increase. Factoring in the $1,850 destination charge, the cheapest Defender is now $65,350. Ouch, Land Rover.

The Defender Is Subject To Trump Administration Tariffs

Land Rover does not build any cars in America. And while the Trump administration did agree to a trade deal with Britain, that only covers vehicles manufactured in the United Kingdom. Land Rover builds the Defender at its plant in Nitra, Slovakia. So, the Defender’s ultimate tariff fate depends on ongoing negotiations between the Trump administration and the European Union. Tariffs, however, are not the biggest reason the base 2026 Land Rover Defender became more expensive.

Land Rover Has All But Eliminated The Defender 90 From America

As previously mentioned, Land Rover still offers the smallest two-door Defender 90. But it's exclusively the V8 model now, and by that, we mean the brand’s supercharged 518-horsepower V8 engine. By comparison, the previous Defender 90 P300 S featured a considerably milder turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder making 296 hp. That's still plenty of juice for a small off-roader, and it was arguably the Defender of choice for buyers actually wanting a nimble, highly capable vehicle for serious off-grid adventuring.

With that model gone, the Defender 90 V8 starts at $114,400, nearly double the Defender's current starting price. Speaking of which, the cheapest Defender is now the 110, which got a $2,700 increase from last year. It's what you get for that $63,500 sticker.

2026 Land Rover Defender Pricing

Land Rover Phasing Out The Defender 90 Probably Makes Sense

The Defender 90 is cute, but it may not serve much of a purpose in the Defender lineup. It’s far less practical for families to use than the Defender 110. Like the Jeep Wrangler, the Defender has a rich history of being a two-door vehicle extending (as the original Land Rover) back to the immediate post-World War II era.

Unlike the Jeep Wrangler, the Defender is not a direct descendant of that body-on-frame vehicle. Land Rover reintroduced the Defender nameplate in 2020 for an entirely different unibody vehicle. We’re probably past the point where Land Rover needs to tie the new Defender, a sales success, back to the old model.

There may be upper-echelon buyers looking to build the ultimate off-road Defender 90 V8, but we suspect those buyers are few and far between. Sticking to the lower end with a four-cylinder 110 that has more passenger space is certainly the practical choice, albeit one that still costs as much as a very well-equipped Jeep Wrangler Unlimited.