Sad news. The last Land Rover
Defenders have rolled off the production line. All of the final vehicles have
been allocated to dealers and most have already been delivered. Neither are
there any stockpiles down south at the factory. After 67 years of production,
there will be no more.
Initially there were plans to move production elsewhere,
outside of Europe some suggested, but these plans have come to nought. Yes,
there will be a replacement, but no-one knows when. There have been suggestions
and speculation that a new Defender will be launched in 2017. This is highly
unlikely. We’ve all seen preliminary sketches, design studies and concepts, but
so far no decision has been made. It could be five years before a replacement
finally hits the road, track and field.
Over the past couple of days, Scottish
motoring journalists got their last ever chance to drive a brand new ‘proper’
Defender. A full review will appear in the on-line mag shortly. I was also
driving a brand new Jag ...
