Land Rover Defender 2,000,000 sells for £400,000
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The Land Rover Defender 2,000,000 – a specially created Defender to commemorate the production milestone – sells for £400,000 at Bonhams in London.
The huge price – thought to be the highest price ever paid for a Defender – will see Land Rover’s humanitarian and conservation partners – the Red Cross and Red Crescent and the Born Free Foundation – benefit far more than could have been expected, with all the proceeds going to the charities.
The bidding started at just £20,000, but quickly rose to six figures (which was expected) but to rise to £400,000 was exceptional and shows just how iconic the Defender/Series is. The Defender is believed to have been bought by an overseas bidder.
That will be a blow to Brian Reynolds, the Land Rover enthusiast who tried to raise money to buy the two millionth Defender ‘For the Nation’ with Crowd Funding, but even if he’d reached his target of £100,000 he’d have been a long way short. As it turns out, he only managed to get £1,500.
John Edwards, Land Rover’s SVO MD, said:
Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to turn a milestone Land Rover into a true collector’s car. With the expert help of my SVO team and a handful of willing Land Rover ambassadors, we created something unique and very special. Tonight’s sale will go down as part of our history.
Of course, Defender has a future and will live on in its own right. But the original Series Land Rovers and Defenders will also continue to thrive through our Jaguar Land Rover Heritage division.
The Land Rover Defender 2,000,000 may have gone to an overseas buyer, but it’s expected the very last Defender off the line in Solihull in early 2016 won’t be going anywhere other than Land Rover’s Heritage Centre at Gaydon.
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