The Land Rover Defender is boxy, beastly and beloved. Early next year, it’ll be history.
For seven decades, the Defender off-road vehicle has barely changed from a design so simple it was originally sketched in beach sand. Slabs of aluminum. A windshield with virtually no tilt. A roof rack made to hold steamer trunks or lion carcasses. A spare tire hanging off the back door.That uncompromising approach has delighted customers from English sheep farmers to Winston Churchill and Queen Elizabeth II. The Defender has shuttled soldiers in the Korean War, Red Cross volunteers in crisis zones around the world and Lara Croft in the movie Tomb Raider. In January, its run will end, and the company hasn’t said when there will be a replacement.
The 23,100-pound ($35,100) car synonymous with British country living has become as anachronistic as a fox hunt. Its raw metal surfaces are at odds with pedestrian safety standards. Its carbon-dioxide emissions are twice the European fleet standard, and it has no touchscreens, mobile connectivity or cordless phone charging. Airbags? Nice try.
“It’s time to move to a new chapter,” said Nick Rogers, Jaguar Land Rover’s head of engineering, who learned to drive in a Defender. “We want to move forward with a new car.”
More here – Bloomberg
That will be a sad day. I’ve driven many 1000’s of kms in the earlier Landrovers & Defenders & they’ve been utterly reliable & will go where many other fancier vehicles can’t. Some of us still want a simple 4WD without all the electrowhizbangs that can give trouble.
Hay, Jim we share something in common, can’t get booked for speeding in a landrover or disco. I’m still a bit cranky about my Rangie though with EAS that is faulty. If they could only reduce the cost of service?.
Would I recommend, a great vehicle HELL YEAH…. all depends on what you want do with it.
catch up soon……
Nice to hear that you both have loved your cars…I actually think the Land Rover Discovery are way better than the Toyota’s…a much better finished car with better leg room etc especially in the third row!
Younger days. Pig hunting around the Southern Alps, Nelson region and various places down the West Coast of NZ. I bought it from a car wrecker (well, actually, there were about three of them) and rebuilt something resembling an original one.
It was a great vehicle. Go anywhere. If I was slammed into a rock on a mountain track or river crossing, then when I got home I would just drive it up against a concrete wall and beat it out from inside. When I eventually wrapped it up one time too many, I sold it back to the same wrecker, but I still drove it into his yard. I think he bought it just for the story.
A sad day indeed! I love my Disco now and loved my 1953 Series 1 which I build with my father whilst I was at school……….great memories. I always intended on getting a Defender but just never got around to it. Unfortunate that the competition of the times will probably drive such an iconic vehicle out of existence.