Last-ever Land Rover Defender rolls of the production line in the U.K.
BY BRIAN LEON
The Defender is credited as the first true SUV, starting all the way back in 1948 with the Series I Land Rover.
America may have the Wrangler, but the rest of the world knows the Land Rover Defender as the original SUV.
After 67 years since the introduction of the 1948 Land Rover Series I, one of the world’s most iconic vehicles is finally closing the curtains. With the Defender 2,000,000, Land Rover is saying goodbye to what many credit as the world’s first true SUV, and one of their most ubiquitous vehicles in the U.K.
Driven and owned by everyone from 007 and Steve McQueen to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Sir Winston Churchill, almost every influential British figure of the last half century and more have experience with the iconic ‘ute. The final Defender, hand-built with help from brand ambassadors like Bear Grylls and members of the British Red Cross, will be auctioned off by Bonhams, and all proceeds will go to Land Rover’s charitable partners like the Red Cross and Born Free Foundation.