Video: Land Rover OCTA Black seen first at FOS

11th July 2025

Adam Wilkins

Take one Defender and up its performance potential on the road while maintaining its ability to cross any terrain. It sounds like an impossible set of criteria, but it’s not beyond the skills of Land Rover’s engineers.

The Defender OCTA has already impressed the world with its dizzying ability, and it did so as soon as it was first seen at last year’s Goodwood Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard. Fast-forward by twelve months to the present day and Land Rover is once again sending a new version of the Defender up the Hill.

This time it’s the OCTA Black, and it’s Black in name and nature. Every conceivable exterior surface has been finished in the darkest hue, and it’s the same story inside. It makes the already pumped-up styling look all the more intimidating. Buyers will get some autonomy over the appearance of their OCTA Black, however. Some elements can be finished in either satin or gloss.

Under the skin, you’ll find the familiar 643PS (472kW) V8 engine that propels the ‘regular’ OCTA, and it has the same suspension set-up that has impressed with its on- and off-road pace. For its first ever ascent of the Hill, and indeed the car’s public debut, the OCTA stayed on the asphalt, but it could easily have short-cut across the grass without breaking a sweat.

At £158,045, the Black is offered at a £10,000 premium over OCTAs finished in any other colour scheme.