The grandfather (or father?) to our Range Rovers is finally going to be discontinued in December 2015. A sad day to come but it is amazing it has lasted in almost original form since the 40s...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/motoring...egend.html Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

A very sad day indeed. Now the speculation of a replacement will start in ernest.
 The reason women's minds are cleaner than a mans mind is that women change their minds more often!
When women say fine a mans in deep doodoo as fine has so many meanings.

What a load of b s. There will always be a need for a proper Landy like the defender. Yeh I can really see the rural community, Coastguard, Mountain Rescue and Police specialist units using a Suzuki Vitara or whatever the current jap models are.

Big, hard, rough, tough, front line and rural occupations need a LANDROVER even after 2015.

If my pockets were deep enough I'd have a Defender 90 as well as my RR.

It would be like losing the Union Jack

The Coastguard only have a couple of Defenders now.
Most of their vehicles are Navara's or L200's.  

OMG ! Do TATA own Landrover? If they do I've just had a horrible premonition. After they officially cease production of the Defender they'll wait a short time and re-launch the name on one of their own poorly built TATA 4X4's.

When I worked for the UN they bought a load of TATA 4x4's to support the emerging motor industry in India. They were crap, crap, crap. They couldn't cut it. The Landrovers and Nissan's were far superior. You buy cheap, you buy twice.

Well there is a new Defender model in the works, but it looks more like a vanity car rather than a hard working easy to fix utility vehicle.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http...CFEQ9QEwBQ Tom

Current Drive
2011 4.4 TDV8 Autobiography - Santorini Black - Ivory Leather

Previous Drives
2004 Model Vogue Td6 (Touchscreen) - Java Black - Parchment Leather
1994 RR Classic 3.9 V8 Soft dash - Niagara Grey - Grey Leather
1972 Series III SWB Safari - Green (Hand Painted) - Black Plastic

Love the Iconic pictures...

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That second picture makes me feel all peculiar  2008 MY Supercharged
Rimini Red / Jet
four zone climate
remote park heater
and no ugly kid windows.
magnus satis quod turpis satis

What the hell are LR thinking? Lets look at the facts:-

- The defender still sells well
- It's popular with a large demographic
- It has a cool image due to its rough and ready looks and heritage
- It's probably a very high profit vehicle as LR won't spend a lot on development

As opposed to making something which looks like a 'tonka truck' and will have no appeal to it's buyers why don't Land Rover:-

- Improve the interior and offer slightly more luxurious versions
- Refine the exterior slightly.
- Improve safety; more airbags and electronic stability programs etc.
- Put the 2.2 SD4 and 3.0 SDV6 engine it

The defender is all things to all men and I don't it's something LR can replace  Now: BMW 640d M Sport, Alpine White
Gone: Range Rover 4.4 V8 Vogue, Zambezi Silver, Charcoal Oxford Leather
Also: Mk1 Audi TT 1.8T Quattro, Brilliant Black
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Defender doesn't make much profit as it takes so long to put together