£400,000 Defender 2,000,000 Breaks Auction Record

Last night a unique Land Rover Defender sold for a record £400,000 at a prestigious charity auction held at Bonhams in London.

This one-of-a-kind Defender – believed to the most valuable ever sold at auction – was the two-millionth of the iconic Series Land Rover model, manufactured at Land Rover’s Solihull plant since 1948, with all proceeds from the vehicle’s sale being donated to Land Rover’s humanitarian and conservation partners, including the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), plus the Born Free Foundation.

This one-off Land Rover was built in May 2015 by an all-star cast of brand ambassadors and people from Land Rover’s history including Bear Grylls, Virginia McKenna OBE and Stephen and Nick Wilks, sons of the founders of Land Rover.

This special Defender was built as part of a year of celebrations for this much loved all-British 4×4, which is due to cease manufacturing in Solihull in January 2016.

The two-millionth Defender boasts a host of distinctive and bespoke features, including an engraved map of Red Wharf Bay – where the design for the original Land Rover was first drawn in the sand, and a unique ‘no 2,000,000’ badge. Inside, the leather seats also feature the ‘Red Wharf Bay’ graphic and ‘No. 2,000,000’ logos have been stitched on the headrests.

A bespoke aluminium plaque, signed by everyone who helped to assemble the vehicle is fitted to the driver’s seat. Special S90 HUE registration plates provide a fitting tribute to the first ever pre-production Land Rover, registration ‘HUE 166’.

Photography courtesy of Bonhams