As someone who grew up around bakkies and SUVs with internal combustion engines, ANTON WILLEMSE is slightly sceptical when it comes to hybrid and electric vehicles. Land Rover’s Defender 110 plug-in hybrid ticks all the right boxes, though.

It’s been quite a ride since the latest-generation Land Rover Defender made its highly anticipated debut in 2020. Initially rolled out in 110 guise, the 90 and 130 models were later added to the range. In similar vein, a variety of powertrains joined the South African line-up over time. The latest one of these is the plug-in hybrid (PHEV), the P400e, which is offered in two 110 derivatives only. We recently sampled one of these, the P400e X-Dynamic HSE.
The Defender 110 P400e was introduced locally in 2021. The only thing that sets it apart from its brethren is its hybrid drivetrain, which promises a claimed 43km of pure electric driving range. That’s great for urban commuters who do most of their driving within the city limits, more so if they have a charger installed at their home for quick and easy charging.

We received the Landy with a range of about 38km left on the battery. As we don’t have a special plug to charge it, I was depending on the vehicle to charge the batteries as I drove. However, I soon realised that this wasn’t happening after about 10 minutes of head-scratching, I located the setting to switch the vehicle to charging the battery. After that, the battery charged pretty fast whilst driving, but every time the vehicle is switched off the setting is turned off too. So, every time I got behind the wheel, I had to remember to switch the charging on again or only use the engine to run around town.
Speaking of the engine… the P400e is powered by both a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol powerplant, and a 105kW electric motor working alongside a 19.2kWh battery. This gives you a combined power output of 297kW and 640Nm, which is more than sufficient for the rather hefty 3.2-tonne vehicle, whether in and around suburbia or out on the open road. It’s no slouch either, boasting a top speed of 191km/h and a standstill to 100km/h sprint time of 5.6 seconds.
But what is it like to drive? I can’t really fault it in that respect. I spent a lot of time driving my youngest daughter around and she loved it. My wife found its sheer size slightly intimidating, so there weren’t many trips to the shopping mall where parking spaces can be on the tight side.
This being a Landy I am convinced that it would have shone off-road – the brand has impeccable credentials after all – and I would have loved to take it off the tar. However, this is a R2 million plus vehicle and the mere thought of getting it scratched or damaged was simply more than I could bear.
The verdict

Hybrids and EV’s are here to stay and if I had to choose between the two, I would pick a hybrid vehicle. At least when I’m in the bush I don’t need to go looking for a charging point on the Makgadikgadi Pans… not that I’d find one there anyway. The hybrid makes sense in town, where it will assist with fuel consumption. You’ll need to keep your trips short, though, as the battery system can only do about 43km on a full charge.
The Defender P400e has a base price of R2 135 900. The extras and options added to the unit we tested, added another R130k-odd on top of that. This means the price tag was a whopping R2 274200. I struggle to get my head around is the price. If I was going to fork out that much money, I would rather get the Defender D300 X-Dynamic HSE. It costs almost R300 000 less than the hybrid version and with the extra bucks I could add loads of extras!
I know that hybrids are here to stay and that pretty soon we will probably have full-electric 4×4 vehicles here in South Africa as well. But until that day I will stick to internal combustion engines. Leave the hybrids and EV’s for public transport and city commuters.
Fast Facts
- Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder, 105kW electric motor
- Power: 297kW
- Torque: 640Nm
- Transmission: 8-speed automatic
- Fuel consumption: 2.8 litres/100km (claimed)
- 0-100km/h: 5.6 seconds
- Top speed: 191km/h
- Rivals: BMW X5 xDrive50e M Sport, Volvo XC90 T8 Recharge AWD Ultimate Dark