Urban Automotive chopped a Defender into a carbon-bedded pickup, and it looks mean
The Defender gets the chop, in the best possible way
The Land Rover Defender is already one of the coolest things on European roads, but UK modifier Urban Automotive reckoned it could be cooler still. To celebrate a decade of showing at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the firm took a Defender 110 commercial, lopped off its rear doors and roof, and turned it into a low, wide, carbon-bedded pickup called the Widetrack Avontur.
From commercial workhorse to carbon show truck
The starting point is the practical Defender 110 Hard Top, the panel-van version. Urban deletes the rear doors and rear seat, then removes a section of the roof to create a proper open load bay. That bed is lined in exposed carbon fibre, with an embossed UA logo in the floor, a modular utility rail system, a neat integrated bottle holder in the tailgate and a spare wheel mounted on the back. It is equal parts luxury statement and genuinely usable truck.
Engineered, not just styled
Chopping the body of a modern car is not trivial, so Urban engineered a bespoke structural framework with an integrated rollover structure, aiming to keep the Defender's refinement and driving manners intact after losing its roof and doors. On the outside there are wide fender extensions, a carbon-fibre hood, a sharp front splitter and huge 23-inch alloys wrapped in low-profile tyres, giving it a far more aggressive, lowered stance than any standard Defender. In total it uses more than 36 bespoke parts.
Price and availability
Urban has not put an official price on the Widetrack Avontur yet, and is instead taking expressions of interest for now. Given the amount of carbon fibre and bespoke engineering involved, do not expect it to be cheap: reports suggest it will land somewhere north of 200,000 dollars once fully specced with the various forged and carbon-fibre finish options. This is very much a low-volume, made-to-order flagship rather than a mass-market conversion.
Not the only star of the stand
The pickup was the headliner, but Urban filled its 10th-anniversary Goodwood stand with more. There was a new carbon styling program for the hardcore Defender Octa, complete with canards, hood vents, wheel arch extensions and a rear spoiler, plus tuned takes on the Rolls-Royce Cullinan Series II, the Lamborghini Urus SE, the Mercedes G-Class and a Range Rover Autobiography created with Visionnaire. Clearly, business is good.
AutoNext Take
We have a soft spot for a well-executed Defender, and this one hits the mark. Where the standard car is all rugged charm, Urban's Widetrack Avontur is pure attitude, and the exposed carbon bed is a lovely bit of theatre. The name is a nice touch too, Avontur being the Dutch and Afrikaans word for adventure, which suits a pickup that started life as a working commercial van. It is a world away from the Defender Octa or the plush new Defender Vertex, but arguably no less desirable.
Is it silly? Absolutely. A 23-inch-wheeled, lowered, six-figure Defender pickup is not remotely sensible. But Goodwood has always been the place for cars that make you grin rather than nod politely, and on that measure the Avontur is a roaring success. Ten years in, Urban clearly still knows how to make an entrance.
