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Designed originally for farming and agricultural use, the
offroader became an iconic British vehicle, popular with
celebrities including Beatles singer Paul McCartney and late
actor Steve McQueen, selling over 2 million since 1948.
Indian-owned Tata bought two loss-making British brands Jaguar
and Land Rover in 2008 and has since been rapidly updating and
expanding its upmarket Range Rover line-up, but will now turn
its attention to the Defender model.
"Any conventional vehicle would have been replaced many times
over in the lifespan of Defender," a spokeswoman at Jaguar Land
Rover said.
"We’ve now got the technology, pioneering engineering capability
and design expertise to evolve Defender."
It takes 56 hours to make the largely hand-built Defender at the
firm's Solihull factory in central England, making it more
expensive and time-consuming than many other vehicles which have
a higher degree of machine assembly.
But the offroader has become synonymous with Britain thanks to
owners such as the queen, who has been pictured riding and
waving to crowds from the back of the 4x4 from as early as 1957
in Hyde Park and during a visit to Melbourne in 1977.
The first model was built in 1948, just three years after the
end of World War Two, with rationing still in place and British
industry trying to recover from heavy bombardment.
Due to a lack of steel, lightweight aluminum was used for the
bodyshells and the vehicle has undergone a series of engine and
design updates over nearly seven decades.
Neil Watterson, deputy editor of Land Rover Owner International
magazine, said the vehicle had remained successful over so long
due to its broad appeal.
"It's always been a classless vehicle," he said.
"It could be driven by the gamekeeper on the estate or it could
be driven by the landowner, or the garage-owner with the
breakdown truck and the fire brigade."
(Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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