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Land rover reveals why the much loved Defender had to go, at least until 2019

A lot of people were heartbroken and devastated after learning the defender would be no more, why would Land rover discontinued such a beautiful beast?

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The last of the current Land Rover Defenders would roll-off the production lines of Jaguar Land Rover’s (JLR) Solihull factory in the West Midlands in December 2015.

“The End of an Era. Back to Electronic Dodads that keep breaking down and Chique styling for the Chelsea Farmers to climb up and down the pavements. But don't worry I will keep mine for another 40 years and it will become a "Classic Car" and worth millions” one fan from Munich posted on social media.

So when I recently had a chance to speak to a confessed car addict and a close associate of Jaguar land rover franchise, I could not wait to ask him to officially confirm whether the rumor was true or not.

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The car was dear to me, I grew up referring to land rover defender as Landii/landy, played hide and seek at the back of an old one and it was the first car i ever drove, so  i would be damned if i was going to let this chance slip my fingers .

“The land rover defender as we know it production ceased in December 2016 in the UK, as far as I know from our general point there are no plans to build the old defender elsewhere”  RMA motors Kenya CEO, Sanjiv Shah said.

No car as ever endeared itself to fans like Land Rover defender and so when the announcement of it being discontinued were released, it is obvious a lot of people were heartbroken and devastated, why then would Land rover discontinued such a beautiful beast?

“The reason for that was simple; you know the old defender is a technology that goes back 65 years ago. The good thing is that it was a robust car, an utilitarian car but the bad thing is some of the modern car features like airbags which is a safety design combined with emission requirements for European and American standards and I would also like to think even in Kenya we do have emission standards for general public health, those features could not be incorporated into the old technology and so it had to go”

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Sanjiv went on and added much as it is sad all good things in life must come to an end for another great thing to be reborn.

“Actually what you are doing is taking something that has already been made and trying to make it different it loses its flavor, much like food you know it is this flavor or it isn’t. “

He then delicately dropped the sad news a land rover fanatic like me would never want to hear.

“So the old defender as we know is dead, it is gone it’s finished”

The only consolation fans of land rover defender have for now much as it may not replace the old jewel is that plans are already underway to build another 4x4 defender from the remains of the old relic before 2020.

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“The new defender and they will be a new defender, I understand it could be in 2019 that we get a new one, it will be a version that looks like the old defender by silhouette shape and executions but it is going to incorporate modern technologies from a safety point of view like I mentioned airbags, anti-lock brakes, these are not things which are new to modern cars but they are new to the defender name plate”

And who would be lucky to produce it?

“it would be produced somewhere in Europe I believe  but I am not at liberty to part with that information where exactly, it would be a capable off-road  vehicle, it won’t be a fancy fancy  vehicle but it would definitely come equipped with modern features"  Sanjiv finalised.

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Email: news@pulselive.co.ke

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