TESLA’S RECORD QUARTER

Tesla announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2020 last month, showing another strong improvement, both quarter-on-quarter and year-onyear. Despite the havoc caused by the worldwide pandemic, Tesla remained profitable for the fifth quarter in a row, showing a handsome profit of $331 million on the back of $8.8 billion in total revenue, which represents an impressive 39% year-on-year improvement in revenue.

Tesla’s third quarter of 2020 was a record quarter on many levels. Earlier Tesla had announced record deliveries of nearly 140,000 vehicles, and just over 145,000 vehicles produced during the third quarter. With positive free cash flow of $1.4 billion and $14.5 billion in cash at the end of the quarter – which is another record for the US automaker – Tesla also announced that it will be spending up to $6 billion per year over the next two years on expanding capacity for manufacturing batteries, vehicles and solar products across a number of factories currently under construction, or to be determined.

Tesla also maintained its guidance for delivery of a total of 500,000 cars in 2020, confirming that it has increased capacity of Models 3 and Y production in Fremont, California to 500,000 vehicles per year. Similarly, Tesla Gigafactory Shanghai has increased Models 3 and Y production to 250,000 vehicles per year, while construction of two new Gigafactories in Berlin and Texas continues at a frenetic pace, with first deliveries from these two factories expected as early as the third quarter next year.

Tesla manufactures more than just cars, and its battery storage business showed an 81% increase over the previous quarter for a total of 759 mWh of stationary storage deployed during the quarter. Solar operations performed even better with a 111% improvement on the previous quarter for a total of 57 mWh of solar deployment.

Answering a question from an industry analyst during the earnings call, Elon Musk neither confirmed nor denied that Tesla would deliver between 840,000 and one million vehicles in 2021, but in typical Musk style, simply confirmed that the figures “sound about right”.

Given Tesla’s current production capacity, combined with capacity from Berlin and Texas that should come on line during the second half of 2021, and barring another worldwide lockdown, we expect Tesla to provide guidance for one million vehicles in 2021 in the next earnings call. At the very least we expect to see Tesla continue to grow at an exponential rate of between 40% and 50% per year over the next three to five years.

There are decidedly few vehicles as iconic in reputation as the Land Rover Defender. The Porsche 911, Volkswagen Beetle, MINI, Jeep Wrangler, MercedesBenz G-Class, and Toyota Land Cruiser come to mind. While often divergent in their purpose and appeal, these beacons of automotive history have one thing in common – their loyal fans.

Often these brand disciples have a personal history with their halo car, or, for the longest time, they’ve dreamt of owning one. Any one.

The Defender falls in the latter category for me. While one or two recent model Defender 90s have floated around the family carpool over the years, I have personally never been lucky enough to own one of my own. I’ve lived vicariously through the odd test unit over my two-decade career as a motoring journalist, though, and I remember each experience I’ve had behind the wheel of a Defender to this day.

It follows that, when rumours of the new Defender began to surface a few years ago, I was gripped with excitement at the prospect of a Defender revival, and that a worthy successor would bundu bash its way back into the history books.

THE BIG REVEAL

Although COVID-19 scuppered any big launch plans that Land Rover may have had to reveal the new Defender in South Africa, the brand moved quickly to get bums in seats, and Driven had the opportunity to test the mid- to high-range 110 P400 S.

If you’re reading this, you most likely are comfortable with the Land Rover’s Defender naming conventions, but for the sake of the uninitiated…

Over the last seven decades, Land Rover has cemented the use of the measured distance – in inches – between the front and rear axles of the Defender as the basis for its model descriptors. This strategy continues to this day, with the new Defender 110 (110 inches between the axles) the first to be released.

At launch, Land Rover South Africa released 15 derivatives of the Defender, with three engine options – an entry-level D240 four-cylinder turbodiesel that produces 177 kW and 430 Nm of torque; the

P300 turbo-petrol four-cylinder with its 221 kW and 400 Nm; and a six-cylinder unit with 294 kW and 550 Nm of twist. Defender 90 derivatives have also since been added to the available line-up, bringing the total number to around 30 possible models. There are four specification levels at each engine level for both 110 and 90 derivatives: standard, S, SE, and HSE.

IN WITH THE NEW

It is general knowledge that progress ultimately caused the demise of the original Defender. Safety standards, emissions standards, and demand for a better balance between luxury and capability all conspired to bring the old-world vehicular juggernaut to its inevitable evolutionary end. Only a complete overhaul of the Defender concept, based on an entirely new platform, and endowed with contemporary everything, could resurrect the nameplate.

Land Rover heeded the call and delivered just that – a revolutionary take on the original concept.

The new generation car may have retained a few design cues of the old, but offers a fresh take on Land Rover design like few Land Rovers in the last few years. Inside the cabin, it is more of the same. Forget everything you may remember from the old car, and savour the luxurious, tech-savvy, and decidedly high-end interior of the new.

Our test unit in S spec was fitted with the usual smattering of both active- and passive safety systems including ABS and EBD, six airbags, traction control and electronic stability control, crash warning systems, and brake assist.

Comfort features include electronicallycontrolled heated front seats, a cooled centre console bin, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, and a spectacular infotainment system with massive 10” crystal clear display. I particularly enjoyed the flexibility of the Defender’s Pivi Pro system with its at-a-glance layout that enables you to carry out frequent tasks and use commonly accessed features on the home screen. You can easily customise the layout and add additional information or features. The infotainment hub also serves as the screen for the 3D camera system.