Land Rover at LA Automobility 2019

It’s been nearly four years since the last Land Rover Defender rolled off the assembly line – and a full 22 years since the big off-roader last was seen in U.S. showrooms.

But Defender – the closest thing the British brand has to its brutish, off-road roots – is back. The official debut this week of an all-new model at the 2019 Los Angeles Auto Show marks its return to the American market.

It took quite a bit of work to get here, Land Rover officials have explained, the new version of the SUV now brought in line with U.S. emissions and crash standards that the older Defender had run afoul of when it was pulled from the market. The new Defender also had to meet increasingly stringent government mandates in other parts of the world.