2023 Land Rover Defender 130 - Interior and Exterior Walkaround.

2023 Land Rover Defender 130 - Interior.

Three's a trend, and so are three-row SUVs. We've already seen the extra-long body of the upcoming all-new Land Rover Defender 130 courtesy of the U.S. Patent Office, but now it's confirmed that the big one will make its return at the end of this month. It's not a longer wheelbase—this will ride on the same wheelbase as the current Defender 110—but with an extra-long body on top that now accommodates a three-row, eight-seat configuration.

Land Rover looks set to take on three-row rivals such as the BMW X7, Volvo XC90, and Audi Q7 with this all-new Defender 130. It also faces some competition in-house, with the Land Rover Discovery and the new long-wheelbase Range Rover also available with three-row seating. Land Rover says the new 130 will get a 2-3-3 seating arrangement with a "practical" new bodystyle joining the existing fleet of two-door 90 and four-door 110 Defender models.

2023 Land Rover Defender 130

You can get a clear idea of what the 130 will look like from the patent renderings previously mentioned and featured above. The current Defender consistently ranks among our favorite off-road SUVs, even against the new Ford Bronco and classic Jeep Wrangler, and was our 2021 MotorTrend SUV of the Year. Adding more practicality and seating capacity, paired with what we expect to be the available full suite of off-road tech carried over from the 90 and 110, only adds more value.

Land Rover confirmed order books will open the same day the new Defender 130 breaks cover on May 31, which means we should be able to expect to get pricing details, as well.

Kia is in full-on EV mode. The excellent EV6 is already on dealer lots and the EV9 concept stunned audiences when it made its debut at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show. It was so well received that the project was fast-tracked and will land in the U.S. sometime next year. The big three-row EV will serve as an electric alternative to the hot-selling Kia Telluride.

According to Motor Authority, Kia Chief Operating Officer for America Steven Center said the EV9 will be coming to the U.S. market and will feature 300 miles of range. Center called 300 miles the "sweet spot" but also noted that it was the minimum range for a larger vehicle like the EV9. This leaves the door open for other versions of the EV9 that will feature more range than the base car's 300-ish-mile figure.

Center also noted that the price gap between the Kia Niro and the EV6, which in today's money is about $15,000, would hold for the gap between the Telluride and EV9. Tack the $15,000 number onto the Telluride starting price of $34,385 and the EV9 should start at around $50,000 when it arrives late next year. If that number sounds too good to be true (especially considering the Tesla Model X's starting price of $121,940), consider that the EV9 will share its platform and batteries with both the Ioniq 5 and EV6.

A stretched version of the Kia and Hyundai's E-GMP (Electric-Global Modular Platform) platform will underpin the EV9 when it reaches production. That also means it will have the same 800-volt architecture and the same vehicle-to-load, bidirectional charging feature, which allows you to charge accessories like a laptop or even another EV directly from the car. We also expect a similar trim lineup to the EV6, but it wouldn't surprise us if the EV9 featured standard all-wheel drive. Center also confirmed to Motor Authority that other bits from the concept including the rear suicide doors and Tron-spec interior won't make it to production either.

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