Today's the last day

[nickwilliams]

From now on, all Defenders will be old!

[g-mack]

yep i think the last one is due off the line at 10 or 11am. very sad

[steve b]

BBC breakfast has just done part one of a tribute to the LandRover and for once there was no mention of global warming !!

The Classic Car show on ITV 4 did a nice piece on the Range Rover last night too

cheers

Steveb

[landroversforever]

Let the week of international mourning commence

[steve b]

What I don't get is the 3 yr gap until the release of the replacement? at least that's what the BBC just said

cheers

Steveb

[Maverik]

I hope someone films it, I'd like to see the last one pop off, wonder which museum it will be going too....

[Aragorn]

A few of the articles have cited "Emissions regulations" as the reason for its demise... I dont get that? They've already fitted newer engines on numerous occasions to improve its emissions, and the 2.2L ZSD-422 engine presumably must be able to meet current emissions criteria as they're fitting it to modern vans and other 4x4's like the Ford Ranger... So whats the issue?

[daveturnbull]

I thought the real issue was the lack of pedestrian friendliness in a collision. Like you say, emissions can be overcome by engine changes.

[Aragorn]

Yeh, i heard that one mentioned a while ago, but the recent clip i watched, and recent news articles seemed to make no mention of that aspect and simply mentioned emissions.

If it WAS emissions, i simply cant see the issue, its not like a defenders lacking in space underneath and they were unable to retrofit the Adblue/SCR junk required to meet euro6... Other manufacturers have managed to squeeze that junk into modern production cars mid-run which are MUCH more tightly packed than a Defender is!

I mean, the end was inevitable, but i just dont see why they didnt keep the thing going until the new model is available. Surely having a 3 year hiatus simply means all their customers go buy a competitors truck instead.

[Diablo]

Although 3 years is about the right time for a new lease/HP to run its course...

[Happyoldgit]

Various reasons for it but the media like to have a quick hook on which to hang a story.

Apart from the interior / exterior safety aspects inherant in the old design compared to the rest of the range the Defender was labour intensive thus costly and slow to build. As a result of all the non robotised input quality control was inevitably variable.

I'll probably hang on to my current Puma, it's got 10,000 on the clock and is a good one compared to others.

[landroversforever]

Although 3 years is about the right time for a new lease/HP to run its course...

Only for the ones sold this year! what about those sold in the last two years?

[ejparrott]

Don't know if it was 10am, I've not heard from my spy on the inside about it yet!

Mind you...he might be a bit tied up...

[honitonhobbit]

The issue is that it doesn't make enough profit for LR

The engines are within emission regs and will be until the next option is available

The bumper is an issue, as are the crumple zones but that simple removes a massive sales sector of the market - although Jeep got around it with the JK, but they spent money on what is already a huge profit maker.

It's finished. Nuff said. Shame but hell it lasted all these years. There's loads left that have all just gone up in value as long as you look after them and don't bolt too much tat on. The aftermarket spares folk will keep you supplied for a fee. Live with it.

Biggest issue is that the cheapest, easily available and thus possibly best base vehicle for Overland and off road driving just got expensive. So now we bother to resurrect all those rotten Nissan Patrols and live axled Hi-luxes

[artwigwa]

Land Rover (@LandRover) tweeted at 0:31 pm on Fri, Jan 29, 2016:

Here it is, the last #Defender to roll off the production line at our plant in Solihull, UK. #DefenderJourneys https://t.co/VxyFyRw5Tz

(https://twitter.com/LandRover/status/693048798113878018?s=09)

[Bowie69]

Rag top 90, about as close original as it could be with current production.

Nice, sad, but nice

[landroversforever]

Rag top 90, about as close original as it could be with current production.

Nice, sad, but nice

Its a nice tip-of-the-hat to HUE166

[Ozzy50]

I heard/read that they will still be making em abroad for UN/ Military ,not sure if that's true .As has been said already too costly to build (in the uk at least) or to put it another way ,not profitable enough ! There goes the last Land Rover product worth buying and I wouldn't hold your breath for a proper replacement ,most likely be another "lifestyle" vehicle with the Defender name ,sorry but I'm a bit of a pessimist at times !,James

[honitonhobbit]

Safe money on the line going to an Eastern country for RoW production

[Snagger]

I've said it before. The justifications of emissions and safety being the cause for the Defender's demise are plain lies. The Transit is still in production with no problems with that engine, and there are plenty of other vehicles with worse emissions, and the Jeep and Dacia Duster can meet the safety standards. Evene if there was a safety angle, how hard would it be to make a plastic bumper of similar profile, stronger A and B pillars and add airbags? It is all down to LR wanting to move production abroad where hand building will be cheaper. They can then later claim a pr coup by saying they listened to the customers and resurrected an iconic vehicle. If they can build 65 new Series Is, with their old engines and lack of safety equipment, then they can continue Defender. Tata are lying. Just wait - they are axing it to make way for a more profitable model and reusing the existing workforce on that, rather than expanding further in the UK to create the UK model. The new jobs will be outside of the UK, and likely outside of the EU, depriving Britons of a chance of work in the expansion, while waving the Union Flag and pretending to be a British icon, still getting praise and thanks for the "resurrection" instead of being seen and money grubbing.

[Diablo]

Only for the ones sold this year! what about those sold in the last two years?

True, was just a thought that popped into my head. Who knows then

[Frax]

I don’t know what to say – sad sad day and I would say a bad decision by Land Rover.

[ejparrott]

The workforce is either retiring, or going on to a new three shift rotation they're starting to try and keep up with demand

[Ozzy50]

I've said it before. The justifications of emissions and safety being the cause for the Defender's demise are plain lies. The Transit is still in production with no problems with that engine, and there are plenty of other vehicles with worse emissions, and the Jeep and Dacia Duster can meet the safety standards. Evene if there was a safety angle, how hard would it be to make a plastic bumper of similar profile, stronger A and B pillars and add airbags? It is all down to LR wanting to move production abroad where hand building will be cheaper. They can then later claim a pr coup by saying they listened to the customers and resurrected an iconic vehicle. If they can build 65 new Series Is, with their old engines and lack of safety equipment, then they can continue Defender. Tata are lying. Just wait - they are axing it to make way for a more profitable model and reusing the existing workforce on that, rather than expanding further in the UK to create the UK model. The new jobs will be outside of the UK, and likely outside of the EU, depriving Britons of a chance of work in the expansion, while waving the Union Flag and pretending to be a British icon, still getting praise and thanks for the "resurrection" instead of being seen and money grubbing.

That's what I wanted to say but you put it better ,

[pat_pending]

Anyone remember the Mahindra Jeep? Indian built Jeep copy.

So Defender production is finished, there's a lot of tooling going spare.

Aluminium is still expensive, there's a glut of cheap steel.

The far east has the skills and infrastructure to produce vehicles, labour is cheap.

They tend not to worry about safety and emissions.

So... a Defender looky-like built in the far east either by or under license from Tata with all steel panels, an International 2.8 engine and a build quality the Brummies could only dream about.

Any takers?