Celebrating 67 years of service across the world as Land Rover – rechristened Defender in 1990 – the brand now marks an exciting new era in the vehicle’s history. Three limited edition Defenders launch within 2015. Heritage and Adventure embody Land Rover’s qualities, and Autobiography unites luxury with capability. As UK production of the current Defender enters its final phase (we are trying to stop the tears, here, be kind), Land Rover will use 2015 to celebrate its global automotive icon and look ahead to an all-new family of Defenders.
Only 2654 of the Heritage edition will ever be produced and will be sold in Land Rover Defender markets this year.
Kicking off the three specials is the Land Rover Defender Heritage. It’ll come in three-door 90 – in both hard top and station wagon guise – as well as five-door 110 bodystyles, with 400 vehicles available to UK buyers. With a unique Grasmere Green paintjob and an Alaska White roof, with silver front bumpers and body coloured steel wheels – and a load of Heritage style badges and Heritage logo mudflaps, as well as HUE 166 graphics in tribute to the first pre-production Series I Land Rover from 1947.
“Defender is the epitome of toughness, of ruggedness, of strength and most importantly of capability“, says Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Design Director and Chief Creative Officer.
Yeah, this surely will be one of the saddest moments in automotive history (the production stop of the iconic Land Rover Defender in 2015). Conceived in 1947, Land Rover broke the mould as the go-anywhere, multipurpose vehicle “for the farmer, the countryman and general industrial use” – and the adventurer, the dreamer, if we may add. And just like the Porsche 911, the Mini, the Beetle, and the T1 Volkswagen Bully, the Defender has become a major automotive icon. Imagining a world without it, is tough. To say the least.
So that would be a one last hurrah. But an epic and loud one.
