Land Rover's 4 x 4 millionth!

Apr 27 2007 By Jon Griffin, Birmingham Mail

MIDLAND motor giant Land Rover is set to clock up another major milestone - with its four millionth vehicle.

The world-renowned 4x4 manufacturer is putting the finishing touches to a Discovery 3 which will mark four million vehicles produced since the first Land Rover in 1948.

The vehicle will roll off the line on May 8 - to be greeted by actress Joanna Lumley, the VIP guest at a special ceremony at the company's Solihull headquarters.

She will receive the vehicle on behalf of the Born Free Foundation, the wildlife and conservation group of which she is the Founding Patron.

Land Rover spokesman Mark Foster said: "To produce four million vehicles is a very significant milestone for Land Rover.

"By 1976, just over one million vehicles had been sold. Up until 1970, there was just the original Land Rover, which became the Defender, but we have increased the range over the years.

"The Range Rover was introduced in 1970, the Discovery in 1989 and the Freelander in 1997."

The first Land Rover was produced in 1948 for the Amsterdam Motor Show. Modelled on the four-wheel-drive War Department Jeeps, it was first conceived by the then Rover company as a stop-gap solution to post-war steel shortages.

The first Land Rovers in a colour other than green were introduced in 1954, and the vehicle was renamed Defender in 1990. As many as two-thirds of all Land Rovers are still in use.

Land Rovers have been driven by the likes of Winston Churchill and the royal family - as well as Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in the Tomb Raider movies.

The Defender, which has sold about 1.9 million vehicles since 1948, is now produced at Lode Lane alongside the Range Rover, the Range Rover Sport and the Discovery 3, while the Freelander is being transferred to Halewood, on Merseyside.

Mr Foster said Land Rover donated two vehicles a year to the Born Free Foundation, the UK-based wildlife and conservation charity.