Friday 22nd May 2015

Land Rover reveals Rugby World Cup Defender

Special Vehicle Ops creates tough, mobile trophy cabinet for 100-day build up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup

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This morning saw a giant rugby ball give birth to a Land Rover Defender.

See it on tour from June 6

The bizarre event, made stranger still because it occurred underneath Tower Bridge, hosted the launch of a new one-off Defender created by Special Vehicle Operations.

Based on a Defender 110 Station Wagon, the bespoke 'Rugby World Cup Defender' looks like it's been built to survive a zombie apocalypse but has been in fact created to secure international rugby's crown jewels - the Webb Ellis Cup, AKA the World Cup victor's trophy.

Said to be a year in the making and the work of over 6,000 man hours, the SVO Defender will not transport the priceless cup but instead display it at every stadium that's hosting World Cup matches in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The mobile trophy cabinet will also be involved in a 100-day celebratory tour around the UK ahead of the tournament, with the tour beginning on June 6.

Another modest JLR launch event...

Sporting a winch, snorkel, bull bar plus chunky wheels and tyres, the Land Rover is based on the recent Autobiography special edition and retains its hand-stitched leather interior - but the majority of the work concerned converting the Station Wagon's rear body into a see-through band vault.

From the seats back the rear bodywork is all new. Made of aluminium and 'riot-proof' glass the actual cabinet also hosts a 40-inch TV and is said to be completely theft-proof.

To help fans get up close with the most prestigious cup in rugby, Land Rover has created what it calls the 'Selfie Seat' - an upholstered folding split tailgate will seat many thousands of fans in turn as they each hope to capture a pic with the cup.

For those hoping Land Rover might have resurrected the V8 for the Trophy edition, or maybe even re-engineered the Range Rover Sport SVR's supercharged 550hp 5.0-litre V8 - prepare to be disappointed.

Makes you proud to be British. Perhaps

Under the bonnet is the regular 120hp 2.2-litre diesel. Shame. More extensive development has gone into racking up some serious miles including 'severe' testing to ensure the Landie's precious cargo bay is wind, rain and, generally, British weatherproof. For tournament security reasons though, the actual trophy will be carried in one of two Range Rovers escorting the rugby popemobile.

Land Rover wouldn't confirm how much it spent converting the Defender, but did admit SVO is working on some 'very special' final limited editions. Here's hoping Land Rover's best guys are working on a last-minute G500 squared rival with a supercharged V8 and the short wheelbase chassis. Here's hoping!

[roadie]

Pretty cynical marketing. Really newsworthy?

[tahicks2003]

6,000 man hours? I love the Defender but what a load of nonsense.

[unsprung]

Do we truly need to end production of Defender? I mean: can't they just ship the production line to China, South Africa, or Brazil and keep churning them out?

Fit an advanced, clean engine to meet the strictest of emissions.

It still won't meet the most advanced standards for crash safety, but surely a new-ish engine will allow Defender to qualify for many markets and for many years to come.

[daytona365]

6000 hrs ? It didn't take that long to build the Eiffel tower !

[The Moose]

daytona365 said:

6000 hrs ? It didn't take that long to build the Eiffel tower !

Maths fail!! And understanding fail!!

[daytona365]

Ironic isn't it ?

[bakerstreet]

I really couldn't care less about the special edition Defenders that LR are planning. Lets face it, they will have some different paint, new wheels and maybe a few other bits from the back pages of LRO magazine. IE 4x4 trinkets that people have been bolting to their Defenders for years.

What interests me is what they are going to replace the Defender with. We saw the potential D4 replacement nearly two years before the predicted launch and whilst they have teased us with Defender replacement concepts, we have yet to see the actual replacement.

My gut feel is that LR will not be replacing the Defender at all. Prices for Defenders will sky rocket!