It sounds like the movie The Last Samurai; however, the last Land Rover Defender does not seem to be happening. In November, Land Rover auctioned the 2,000,000th Defender at Bonhams, and the product will be finalised in February 2016. When I visited the Land Rover Stratstone Mayfair dealer, they told me (in March) that this is the last Defender.
However, I saw another Land Rover Defender a few weeks ago, and they said the same thing: this is the last one. I think Land Rover wasn’t really good with their numbers and couldn’t manage to stop production of the Defender.
If you have ever read my articles about Range Rover, you would have noticed that I have a massive issue accepting that the new Range Rover is a great car. And there is one reason for this; I can imagine how the Range Rover might be a great car if it was built with the technology of Mercedes-Benz or BMW.
I guess my emotional attachment to Range Rover’s off-road abilities always leads me to imagine this alternative fantasy version of the new Range Rover: an SUV with semi-autonomous driving, radar guided cruise control with steering-wheel assist and stop & go features, a navigation system that works perfectly, seat massage system that would make massage salons jealous, crash prevention systems that can stop the car by itself and tighten your seat belts and warn for a rear-end collision, pedestrian detection system, night vision system…the list could go on forever.
However, Land Rover was struggling to save their business at the time that Mercedes-Benz was designing the AirBus inspired S-Class. As a result of the gap, Range Rover is several years behind in the driving assistance competition. This accounts for my steady disappointment.
I know myself, if I get the chance to buy a Range Rover, I will visit the dealer, drive the car. And then I will go straight to the BMW showroom and order an X5! Or order a Mercedes GLE! I would do this in the full knowledge that I know neither the X5 nor the GLE would be as tempting as the Range Rover and I would never establish an emotional bond with them. However, I would fall in love with the driving assistance systems that are offered on the X5 and the GLE. But whilst driving either an X5 or GLE, I would still be thinking about the Range Rover.
In the end, knowing the potential of the new Range Rover and seeing this vehicle without the contemporary driving assistance systems annoys me! Hopefully, Land Rover will have hired many BMW engineers and their future vehicles will improve immensely. Until that time, I would stick with the X5 or the GLE!
The 2,000,000th Land Rover Defender was sold for £400,000 at Bonhams charity auction Mayfair, London. Check the video for the action!
It is sold to an unnamed bidder! The auction was like a real life eBay bidding but more fun.
I was very lucky to witness this unforgettable and emotional event. Land Rover Defender is the old mass-produced vehicle, 67 years. Unfortunately, Land Rover decided to end its production due to the high costs of implementing new EU regulations. My suggestion is that Land Rover does not wish to produce utilitarian-looking vehicles anymore.
That’s why I love the Land Rover Defender; it was the last Land Rover that had the DNA of being a Land Rover. I managed to attend to the auction at Bonhams. The event was amazing and I wasn’t planning to be there on that day. I was at the right place at the right time. In addition, Mr. Land Rover was present with other Land Rover directors and the CEO.
The 2,000,000th Land Rover Defender was built in Solihull, England (very close to Birmingham). The money collected from the auction will be donated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Born Free Foundation.
It was a very sad moment, but I was very, very lucky to witness this unforgettable moment, and Land Rover was very kind to invite to me the after party, but I had to get back. I should have bought an open return ticket!
The last Land Rover Defender is now a London Taxi. Land Rover Defender’s product will be ending soon (at the end of December 2015) due to costly safety revisions. Maybe design director Gerry McGovern doesn’t find the Defender cool enough. Despite this, the Defender is the only Land Rover I really wish to own.
Anyway, Land Rover has decided to create a campaign to honour the Defender before its production comes to an end and created the Land Rover Taxi. Actually, it is an artificial taxi. Unfortunately, no one is able to book it! However, the campaign’s best catching point was the driver, Mr. Land Rover (Roger Crathorne). (I was lucky enough to have met with him a few years ago, and also I did an interview with him.).
Keep in mind, the Land Rover Defender is also manufactured in Turkey by Otokar!
Land Rover recently revealed a new video on YouTube, ‘45 years of Range Rover: Gerry McGovern discusses his design inspirations’. It is a short interview with Gerry McGovern, who designed the new Range Rover.
The new Range Rover is not good looking car. If I said it is ugly, it would be a bit unfair, but there is no hint of the Range Rover in this generation. In particular, the fake air vents and the departure from the ‘form equals function’ design philosophy. When I say form equals function, you may remember Frank Stephenson, as he is the designer who designed the previous generation of Range Rover, which I still love.
If you know me personally, you would be saying, ‘Frank is your friend and that’s why you love that Range Rover’. Absolutely not! The main reason for my emotional attachment to the previous generation is the clean design. Every design item on that previous generation of Range Rover had a role. The design wasn’t there to impress someone at Mayfair, London. It was there do a job.
However, Gerry McGovern moved away from this design philosophy and created fake air vents on both sides of the new Range Rover and moved away from the simple design to a poser design. Honestly, I would never associate the new Range Rover with an off-road experience; I would associate it with Prada sunglasses or a Fendi handbag. The Range Rover’s off-road DNA is gone, and with a 22-inch wheel, you can’t do off-road. It is that simple.
During the interview, Gerry McGovern mentioned that he loves the Patek Philippe Calatrava wristwatch for its simple and clean design, as every detail is simple and does a job. So, what was the role of the fake vents on the new Range Rover?
I know, I am focused on the air vents and have become very negative about the new Range Rover, but details make the difference, and I would really love to see a Range Rover that offers state-of-the-art technology and a design that reflects the DNA.
I know that many people from Jaguar Land Rover read my blog; however, that’s my personal view.
2015 will be the last time you can order a Land Rover Defender. The iconic Defender will not be manufactured after December, 2015 due to EU regulations that cannot be applied to ageing platform of Defender. However, Land Rover did not wish to stop the production without making unforgettable versions.
Land Rover decided to draw a huge (1 km sized) Defender sketch of the original Defender on the same beach (Red Wharf Bay in Anglesey, UK) that was drawn by Maurice Wilks. Six different Land Defenders were used to make this massive sketch and each Defender was representing its generation.
The sketch took 4.52 km in total and Land Rover is going to release three different limited editions to celebrate the Defender. As you expected there will be Autobiography Edition, Heritage Edition and Adventure Edition. Just ignore the Autobiography Edition because, Defender is not a Range Rover.
Defender is the only Land Rover product I really like. Unfortunately, the existing Land Rover vehicle range departed far away from its utilitarian DNA to luxury on road territory. They do look beautiful but I cannot see the utilitarian DNA of Land Rover on any Land Rover vehicle.
New Land Rover Discovery Sport is revealed few minutes ago. I have uploaded all photos available on Land Rover’s press database. I will cover the topic later today.
Here is the new Discovery or something between Range Rover Evoque, Range Rover Sport and a bit Freelander? Probably yes! After the Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover moved away from its masculine and utilitarian look and focused on designing off road vehicle that have a very high resemble with fashion items (Such as hand bags!). Despite this resemblance, many people liked the Evoque and the new Range Rover range.
However, I was not expecting to see a Discovery that is designed for arriving to a Mayfair club instead of conquering a mountain. However, Land Rover removed all utilitarian design DNA and created a Discovery that vanishes the previous generations.
Why they did it? Because, there is a new design team and a new designer director. But I was not expecting to see a very radical design change with the Discovery but they made it and I didn’t like it. Discovery was one of my favourite off road vehicles but with this design, the essence has gone far away. And soon to see new Discovery at out closet posh club.
Anyway, Discovery Sport is powered by a 2.2-lt turbo diesel with 190 HP with 9-speed automatic. Also, Discovery Sport will be used for transporting people to Virgin Galactic ships at the space port in USA. Now we can clearly understand the target audience!
Land Rover introduced a new version of Range Rover Sport. It is called Range Rover Sport SVR. And that’s the end of the news. Because, SVR looks really funny and promotes its Nürburgring ability as a promotional content. However, except the lap time (8 mins, 14 secs) there is nothing innovative or exciting.
Still Range Rover Sport SVT cannot show you the world at night through a night vision camera, it cannot stop if a crash is unavoidable by itself, it can not detect pedestrians, it cannot control steering wheel in case you invade the opposite lane and it cannot understand a potential accident and get ready for the impact.
However, you can go around faster and faster in a circuit with a pre-histroic satellite navigation system and unusual air-con features. I will stop moaning about Range Rover, when they introduce innovative technologies.
The SVR’s is powered by a 5.0-litre supercharged V8 engine and develops to produce 550PS and 680Nm. And engine is coupled with a 8-speed automatic transmission. 0-100 km/h acceleration is 4.5 seconds and top speed is 260 km/h.
How it feels to live in UK? This is one of the most common question, which I came across most of the time. And I started to explain the weather and so on. Hopefully, Land Rover helped me to answer this question with a great advertisement, #Hibernot. I cannot say, I am a fan of the Land Rover product range except Defender and Discovery 4, however this does not prevent me to promote their creative and innovative projects.
The #Hibernot is one of these, really creative, fantastic scenario and the result is very simple, British weather! When you arrive to UK don’t expect to experience Spanish summer and start complaining, before arriving to UK just watch the video of Land Rover #Hibernot.
New Range Rover Evoque for 2014. Actually, Evoque looks the same but they updated the technological features and introduced a 9-speed automatic gearbox. Now, Evoque is capable of engaging the four-wheel drive system on demand. However, unlike other conventional systems, Evoque is capable of driving pure front-wheel drive and engages the four-wheel drive system in 300 milliseconds! Also, there is a new e-diff at the rear and distributing the torque between the rear wheels for increased handling and better off road performance. Also, new Evoque can exit from the park, can sense the rear traffic and closing rear vehicle.
More interestingly the Evoque’s new video “taken for a ride” features a Mercedes-Benz flag from 1:55 to 1:57! That is exactly two seconds of Mercedes-Benz advertisement on Range Rover Evoque’s YouTube video.
Anyway, with these new improvements of Range Rover Evoque, Land Rover states that they are more competitive than before. And Evoque feels fresher!
