5 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About the Land Rover Defender

Even owners and fans of the legendary Land Rover Defender may not know everything about the vehicle. For example:

What’s Underneath

The Defender Chassis – In an effort to improve build quality and manufacturing efficiency, Land Rover overhauled its chassis-build process in 2009. In addition to saving in factory floor space, the chassis is now welded entirely by robots.

1. What’s on Top

A Convertible – Yes, we mean a Defender convertible top, not the canvas top that comes with the vehicle. An after-market vehicle customizer in London, UK, will equip your Defender with a convertible top so you’ll never get caught in the rain.

2. What’s Under the Hood

The Fastest Defender – Lots of after-market tuning companies specialize in working on the Defender. And many of them believe they have built the fastest Defender ever. As soon as one claims the title, another claims to beat it. In one of the only known races in the UK of tuned Defenders, a 550 BHP version sporting Porsche Cayenne tyres beat all the competition.

3. What Goes Into a Defender

What does it take to build a Defender? First, it takes each vehicle three days to go from the start to the finish of the build process. 100 Defenders are completed every day, which compares to 1,000 daily Jaguar XEs and over 3,000 Toyota Corollas per day (from a single plant).

4. Movie and TV Appearances

The Defender is the hardest working star in the world with more appearances in movies and TV shows than any real-life star. In addition to appearances in the last three James Bond films, the Defender will also make an appearance in “Spectre”, due to be released in October of 2015.