Land Rover Defender production to end this week

Land Rover has announced that the very last Defenders made at its Solihull factory, in the West Midlands, will roll off the production line for the last time later this week.

Defender production was originally meant to finish in 2015, but a late sales dash for the tough SUV saw JLR extend production into 2016.

First on sale back in 1948, the original Series One that eventually became the Defender broke records for the longest continuous production of a vehicle beating a record originally held by the Volkswagen Beetle.

Still mainly built by hand, Land Rover says, on average, one Defender rolls off the line every four minutes. The less production-intensive, bigger and far more technically complicated Range Rover, meanwhile, rolls off the line every 86 seconds.

Recently, a special Defender built to celebrate two-million vehicles made was sold for more than $800,000 with all the proceeds going to charity.

The unique Land Rover SUV came with an engraved map of Red Wharf Bay, where the original Land Rover’s design was conceived in line drawings in the sand, and a plaque signed by those who helped assemble the vehicle.

The special one-off Defender also featured leather seats embossed with Red Wharf Bay graphics and ‘No. 2,000,000’ logos.

If you’re waiting for an all-new replacement for the Defender you’re in for a long wait. Production, at JLR’s new Slovakia facility, isn’t expected to begin until 2018.