Land Rover Defender production ends

The last Land Rover Defender has rolled off the production line at the company's Solihull factory – 68 years after Land Rover introduced the Series 1.

In total, 2,016,933 Series Land Rovers and Defenders have been built in the West Midlands since the late 1940s, but production ceased at 9:25 am today. All 700 employees were invited to Defender's send off and Autocar reports a "strangely festive air" in the plant.

"Seven hundred people from all over the factory converged on the end of the line to witness last car's completion. Upsetting sight for the sentimental, watching technicians putting tools away for the last time", the magazine adds. The approach of the final car to the end of the line was met with "tremendous cheer", however.

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The final Defender – a short wheelbase "90" Heritage edition – has been bought by Jaguar Land Rover boss Ralph Spieth, who also purchased the penultimate one for his daughter.

During its reign as Britain's rugged, go-anywhere runabout, the iconic, boxy off-roader has transported the likes of Winston Churchill, James Bond, Queen Elizabeth and numerous British service personnel.

Despite some demand for the car remaining thanks to its loyal customer base, retro appeal and hard-as-a-rock capabilities, the Defender has become a victim of the times. In their most recent review, Auto Express said that despite the Defender's still huge off-road competence, it was "dated and far adrift of modern 4x4s in most other areas".

Various revisions and updates were tried to keep the old design fresh and competitive, but new and stricter emissions rules set to come into force in 2020 meant there were "certain conditions the Defender just won't meet", Land Rover told the BBC.

Regardless of production ending, the car will still be a fixture on UK roads and within rural communities, motoring journalist Quentin Wilson told the broadcaster.

Orders for the Defender "boomed to meet nostalgia-fuelled demand" as the end drew near, says the Guardian. The company produced three run-out trims – Heritage, Adventure, and Autobiography editions, the latter costing more than £60,000 while before Christmas, the 2,000,000th Defender was sold at auction for £400,000. The first model introduced in 1948 was priced at £450.

A new model is planned for the near future that critics hope will modernise the Defender story while maintaining some of the rugged cues from the original Series 1, as drawn in the sand of an Anglesey beach by its designer, Maurice Wilks.

A concept called the DC100, revealed at the 2011 Frankfurt Motor Show, is the closest thing we've seen regarding a new Defender.