Series Land Rover uuesti tootmisesse?
Postitatud: R Jaan 29, 2016 21:23
The Defender rides once more
The end of the road for the iconic Land Rover Defender? Not quite; Michael Harvey exclusively reveals plans for its future
Michael Harvey
By Michael Harvey
January 29, 2016 07:45
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on tour in 1957 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on tour in 1957
Enlarge
Series II Land Rovers for export in 1959 Series II Land Rovers for export in 1959
Enlarge
Reports of the death of the Land Rover Defender - the last official car came off the line this morning - may have been (somewhat) greatly exaggerated. Land Rover has announced that 25 more cars will after all be built at the classic Land Rovers Solihull home. Only they wont be new Land Rovers but original Series 1 cars. These have been acquired by the companys new heritage division and given a ground-up restoration by a small crew of technicians picked from the assembly line and based in a new facility adjacent to the original line, which has been building Land Rovers since 1948.
Priced around Ŗ60,000 (although Land Rover is not confirming that yet) the cars will not be updated in any way but restored to original Series 1 specification, complete with torquey little 1.6-litre engines. Customers will be allowed to specify trim and paint items, such as they are. The team does not intend to fully paint the cars, leaving the interiors unpainted just as they were in the Forties. The heritage business will be then be open for existing owners to send their cars back to their place of birth for restoration.
Since Telegraph Luxury first broke the news confirming the end of the cars 68-year life on our first day of the site going live, demand for the vehicle has skyrocketed; it was granted a months stay of execution to meet orders. But all the new cars are gone now, and have been for some time to be honest. The last car - the 2, 016,933 if you want specifics - will drive off the line just after 10.00am this morning. It will be kept in Land Rovers heritage collection. The two-millionth car - specially badged and trimmed and assembled with help from alumni in Land Rovers world - was sold at auction last year, raising Ŗ400,000 for the Born Free conservation foundation.
Conservation work, like relief, exploration, life-saving, peacekeeping and keeping rural communities functioning (and lets not entirely forget the Defenders military role) has been the cars stock-in trade since its conception, as myth has it, drawn in the sand on a Welsh beach two years after the end of the Second World War. What started life as a pragmatic new model for the Rover Car Company, inspired by the Jeep and facilitated by the abundance of cheap aluminium (not longer required for building warplanes) and green paint became the seed DNA of a brand that last year sold over 400,000 cars.
The first Land Rovers cost just Ŗ450, the same company will now sell you a Range Rover SV Autobiography for a smidge under Ŗ150,000. And its no less capable on mud, snow and sand. In fact, its probably more so. The company is more than aware however that it cannot drift too far from its moorings and that the Defender will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. This is expected to be some time next year - at least thats when well get to see the first glimpses of it. Sales might be the year after.
Land Rover says its committed to three families of cars; luxurious Range Rovers, leisure-orientated Discoverys and utility Defenders. Oh yes, there wont be just one new Defender, then again there was never just one old Defender. The new cars wont be - cant be - as utilitarian as the old; they are as unpleasant to drive as they are lovely to look at. Anyone who tells you otherwise is an incurable romantic, not that they will be able to hear you tell them that; Defenders are quite extraordinarily noisy.
Theyre dirty too and in not fit state to be modified to meet coming emissions regulations. Safety legislation meanwhile is the reason the Defender hasnt been sold in the USA in many years. The car could have continued a little longer, but sooner or later a decision to end production had to come. Its just time an insider told us two years ago.
The Defender, the definitive Land Rover, has had the most extraordinary life, proof that truly great design is pretty much timeless. The last car, with its simultaneously perfect and exaggerated proportions coming off the line today looks as good as the first car did back in the summer of 1948. But there is nothing to mourn here, most of the two million plus cars still exist somewhere and Land Rovers new heritage programme is dedicated to their conservation, bringing them back to life pretty much in the same spot their were born. This really isnt the end of the story, merely its first instalment.
Land Rover
www.landrover.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/motor ... -2016.html
The end of the road for the iconic Land Rover Defender? Not quite; Michael Harvey exclusively reveals plans for its future
Michael Harvey
By Michael Harvey
January 29, 2016 07:45
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on tour in 1957 Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip on tour in 1957
Enlarge
Series II Land Rovers for export in 1959 Series II Land Rovers for export in 1959
Enlarge
Reports of the death of the Land Rover Defender - the last official car came off the line this morning - may have been (somewhat) greatly exaggerated. Land Rover has announced that 25 more cars will after all be built at the classic Land Rovers Solihull home. Only they wont be new Land Rovers but original Series 1 cars. These have been acquired by the companys new heritage division and given a ground-up restoration by a small crew of technicians picked from the assembly line and based in a new facility adjacent to the original line, which has been building Land Rovers since 1948.
Priced around Ŗ60,000 (although Land Rover is not confirming that yet) the cars will not be updated in any way but restored to original Series 1 specification, complete with torquey little 1.6-litre engines. Customers will be allowed to specify trim and paint items, such as they are. The team does not intend to fully paint the cars, leaving the interiors unpainted just as they were in the Forties. The heritage business will be then be open for existing owners to send their cars back to their place of birth for restoration.
Since Telegraph Luxury first broke the news confirming the end of the cars 68-year life on our first day of the site going live, demand for the vehicle has skyrocketed; it was granted a months stay of execution to meet orders. But all the new cars are gone now, and have been for some time to be honest. The last car - the 2, 016,933 if you want specifics - will drive off the line just after 10.00am this morning. It will be kept in Land Rovers heritage collection. The two-millionth car - specially badged and trimmed and assembled with help from alumni in Land Rovers world - was sold at auction last year, raising Ŗ400,000 for the Born Free conservation foundation.
Conservation work, like relief, exploration, life-saving, peacekeeping and keeping rural communities functioning (and lets not entirely forget the Defenders military role) has been the cars stock-in trade since its conception, as myth has it, drawn in the sand on a Welsh beach two years after the end of the Second World War. What started life as a pragmatic new model for the Rover Car Company, inspired by the Jeep and facilitated by the abundance of cheap aluminium (not longer required for building warplanes) and green paint became the seed DNA of a brand that last year sold over 400,000 cars.
The first Land Rovers cost just Ŗ450, the same company will now sell you a Range Rover SV Autobiography for a smidge under Ŗ150,000. And its no less capable on mud, snow and sand. In fact, its probably more so. The company is more than aware however that it cannot drift too far from its moorings and that the Defender will need to be replaced sooner rather than later. This is expected to be some time next year - at least thats when well get to see the first glimpses of it. Sales might be the year after.
Land Rover says its committed to three families of cars; luxurious Range Rovers, leisure-orientated Discoverys and utility Defenders. Oh yes, there wont be just one new Defender, then again there was never just one old Defender. The new cars wont be - cant be - as utilitarian as the old; they are as unpleasant to drive as they are lovely to look at. Anyone who tells you otherwise is an incurable romantic, not that they will be able to hear you tell them that; Defenders are quite extraordinarily noisy.
Theyre dirty too and in not fit state to be modified to meet coming emissions regulations. Safety legislation meanwhile is the reason the Defender hasnt been sold in the USA in many years. The car could have continued a little longer, but sooner or later a decision to end production had to come. Its just time an insider told us two years ago.
The Defender, the definitive Land Rover, has had the most extraordinary life, proof that truly great design is pretty much timeless. The last car, with its simultaneously perfect and exaggerated proportions coming off the line today looks as good as the first car did back in the summer of 1948. But there is nothing to mourn here, most of the two million plus cars still exist somewhere and Land Rovers new heritage programme is dedicated to their conservation, bringing them back to life pretty much in the same spot their were born. This really isnt the end of the story, merely its first instalment.
Land Rover
www.landrover.co.uk
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/luxury/motor ... -2016.html