Why Does Land Rover Defenders Cost So Much

 

Here’s why a 20-year-old Land Rover Defender costs $70,000 — or more — in the United States.

Land Rover Defender

 

The Land Rover Defender (initially called the Land Rover Ninety and Land Rover One Ten) is a British four-wheel-drive off-road utility vehicle developed from the original Land Rover Series launched in 1948. In October 2013 Land Rover announced that production would end in December 2015 after a continuous run of 67 years. Production finally ended on 29 January 2016 when the last Defender, H166 HUE, rolled off the production line at 9:22. Jaguar Land Rover announced their intention to launch a replacement “new Defender”, which motoring journalists speculate will be “quite different” from the original version.

In 1993 Land Rover launched the Defender in the North American (i.e. the United States and Canada) market. Although the Range Rover had been sold there since 1987, this was the first time utility Land Rovers had been sold since 1974. To comply with the strict United States Department of Transportation regulations, ranging from crash safety to lighting, as well as the very different requirements of American buyers, the North American Specification (NAS) Defenders were extensively modified. The initial export batch was 525 Defender 110 County 4x4s: 500 to the United States and 25 to Canada. They were fitted with the 3.9-litre V8 petrol engine and five-speed manual transmission. All of the vehicles were white (except one specifically painted black for Ralph Lauren). They sported full external roll-cages and larger side-indicator and tail-lights. All were equipped with the factory-fitted air conditioning system.
NAS Defender 90 soft-top
For the 1994 and 1995 model year Land Rover offered the Defender 90, fitted with a 3.9-litre V8 engine and a manual transmission which was clearly intended to compete with the Jeep Wrangler. Initially, the Defender 90 was only available as a soft-top, but later version was offered with a unique, removable, fibre-glass roof panel or regular 4×4 hard-top.

In the final year of US production the engine was improved, designated 4.0 and mated to a four-speed automatic transmission. In 1998, regulations changed to require the fitting of airbags for both front seat passengers in all vehicles, as well as side door impact requirements. The Defender could not be fitted with these without major modifications, which given the small numbers of NAS vehicles sold in relation to Land Rover’s global sales, were not economically viable. Land Rover retired its utility vehicles at the end of 1997 to focus on its more upmarket Discovery and Range Rover models, as well as the then newly launched Freelander. The next defender may be sold in the US and Canadian markets in 2019.