Land Rover marks 75th anniversary with £85,995 Defender

A limited-edition Land Rover Defender has been launched to mark 75 years of the iconic British brand, complete with unique paintwork and a £85,995 price tag.

A cosmetic reworking of the current Defender, the Defender 75th Limited Edition will be released three-quarters of a century after the legendary Land Rover Series I was unveiled in 1948 – then just the name of the off-roader released by the now-defunct Rover.

Available in either 90 or 110 bodystyles (the larger, eight-seat 130 has been omitted), it gets a Grasmere Green paint job (not seen before on a Defender, and synonymous with early Land Rover models) with 20in alloy wheels coloured to match the bodywork.

Other unique features include several “75 Years” graphics across the body and Ceres Silver bumpers. Inside, the dashboard’s cross car beam is also coloured to match the Grasmere Green bodywork.

These touches help elevate the limited edition to a starting price of £85,995 (£89,995 in 110 form), a lofty £24,055 bump from the HSE-trim Defender (£61,940) on which it is based. Yet it won’t be the most expensive Defender in the range, with that distinction going to the £113,505 Land Rover Defender V8 Carpathian Edition. 

The brand has positioned the Defender 75th Limited Edition as a highly collectable piece, it said, but has not placed a cap on production numbers.

Stuart Frith, life-cycle chief engineer, said: “This new limited edition captures the spirit of the past 75 years, with its colour and detailing, and fuses it with innovative new technology and unrivalled all-terrain capability.”