The Land Rover Defender will stop being manufactured in 2015

One of the most representative off-roaders in its segment, the Land Rover Defender, will not live to see its 70th birthday. Land Rover has just announced that production of the model will end in 2015, to be replaced by another off-roader, although the company has not yet even begun work on it.

According to a brand spokesperson, the reason for the Defender’s disappearance will be “legislative.” That is, they already know the Defender will not comply with the Euro 6 standards that will come into force from 2016. Changes needed to meet these standards would add too much weight to the vehicle, and adapting it to the emissions regulations would not be profitable for the British company.

And who will be the replacement? For now, none. Some industry analysts have commented that there is no certainty that a Defender replacement will arrive and, if it does, it would not be before 2019. The brand reports quite low sales volumes for the Defender, so they do not even have a future commercial “business case” on the table. Among the concepts, Land Rover had shown the DC100 (photo) at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, but the project has been cancelled.

With a long and fascinating history, the Defender was first presented in 1948. Although about two million units have been sold over its history, in the last eight months only 561 units have been sold across all of Europe.

Source | Automotive News

Technical specifications of this car

Off-RoadLand Rover Defender23 versions · from 78,700 €