The Land Rover Defender may no longer be a body-on-frame SUV, but it’s still an incredibly capable (and comfortable) off-roader. And at a time when two-door SUVs are all but extinct, we love that Land Rover still offers the Defender 90. It’s a chunky box on wheels with extremely short front and rear overhangs that give it seriously impressive approach, departure and breakover angles. But if you’ve ever looked at the Defender 90 and thought it had too much cargo room and not enough of an open roof, then boy have we got the coachbuilder for you.
Project Kahn’s coachbuilding division, Flying Huntsman, has announced plans to build what it’s calling the Spyder 90. Currently, all we have are the rendering you see above and a number of design sketches, but it’s safe to say that if one of these things ever ends up on a public road, it’s going to get a lot of attention. Maybe not in a good way, but it will certainly get attention. Although, if you’re buying a coachbuilt open-air Defender 90 to drive around in, there’s a good chance you consider all attention good attention.
The proportions can probably best be described as “stubby,” but “overgrown toy car” works too. But with plans to only build eight Spyder 90s a year, we suspect Flying Huntsman will sell its production run pretty easily. Surely, with more than eight billion people on the planet, there will be at least eight of them who look at this creation and decide to add it to their collection. According to the release, the build process takes six months, and the first ones won’t be completed until the second quarter of 2024.
Currently, there aren’t many details available, including pricing or engine options, but considering we’re talking about an ultra-low-volume coachbuilt SUV, it probably all depends on the buyer. At that level, you can probably pick pretty much any option you want if you have the money to afford it. Wheels? Leather? Custom woodwork? A different color fabric top? If you’re willing to pay up, why would Flying Huntsman stop you?
Whether you should be stopped from buying this thing in the first place is a different question altogether. But at least you wouldn’t ever have to worry about losing a Spyder 90 in the parking lot?