Last Defender rolls off the line

After 68 years of production, the last Land Rover Defender - a 90 Heritage Soft Top - rolled off the production line at the Solihull factory today.

More than 700 current and former employees were there to mark the occasion, with historic models such as the first pre-production ‘Huey’ Series 1 on show.

As Defender production ended, Land Rover announced a new Heritage Restoration programme, which will be based at Solihull.

A team of experts, including long-serving Defender employees, will oversee the restoration of a number of Series Land Rovers from around the world. The first restored vehicles will go on sale in July.

Dr Ralf Speth, CEO of Jaguar Land Rover, said, ‘Today we celebrate what generations of men and women have done since the outline for the Land Rover was originally drawn in the sand.

‘The Series Land Rover, now Defender, is the origin of our legendary capability, a vehicle that makes the world a better place, often in some of the most extreme circumstances.

‘There will always be a special place in our hearts for Defender, among all our employees, but this is not the end. We have a glorious past to champion, and a wonderful future to look forward to.’

More than 25 unique vehicles from Land Rover’s history came together in a procession around the Solihull plant.

Now, Land Rover fans are being asked to upload their most memorable journeys ever undertaken in Series Land Rover or Defender vehicles via the Defender Journeys webpage.

It’s effectively a digital scrapbook and Land Rover aims to collate as many exciting adventures as possible into this online map, which users can view and share.