Land Rover’s Current Defender Could Live On Outside Europe

The 67-year production run of Land Rover’s iconic Defender is scheduled to end in late December, with an all-new replacement expected to appear sometime after.

But, this week, the company confirmed the current Defender may yet live on, if a suitable business case can be found for production outside of the UK.

In a statement this week, Land Rover said it is "investigating the possibility of maintaining production of the current Defender at an overseas production facility, after the close of UK manufacturing”.

There is a caveat, however: while the Defender’s sentence may be commuted, it would nonetheless be forbidden from ever showing its face again in an EU Land Rover dealership.

“Any continuation would see low-volume production maintained for sale outside the EU,” the company said.