JLR celebrates production landmark for Land Rover
VEHICLE manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has celebrated a major production milestone for its most enduring product.
The company has produced its 6,000,000th Land Rover and to celebrate the historic milestone it has given the special vehicle some design enhancements.
The vehicle in question is a Yulong White Range Rover LWB Vogue SE, which was completed on April 2. The vehicle has been fitted with a bespoke puddle lamp graphic to signify its unique status.
The luxury SUV is taking centre stage at the 2015 Shanghai Auto Show and the one-off motif is replacing the standard Range Rover silhouette projected by the vehicle’s puddle lamps. The image is created by an inscribed lens within the door mirror-mounted downlight and displaying the Land Rover logo and landmark figure.
The illuminated graphic, which is the width of a grain of rice, is projected through a magnifying lens onto the ground every time the vehicle is unlocked in an image which is 80cm in diameter. This same graphic was projected on to the wall of the Solihull manufacturing facility to mark the moment when the 6,000,000th vehicle rolled off the production line.
Andy Goss, Director, Group Sales Operations, Jaguar Land Rover, said: “For 67 years Land Rover has been building the world’s most capable all-purpose vehicles. Over this period, a range of ground-breaking innovations and technologies have blended great design, refinement and unmatched all-terrain capability.
“It’s fitting that the 6,000,000th Land Rover to be produced is a Range Rover, since this year marks the 45th anniversary of the original Range Rover’s launch and even today, the vehicle remains peerless. With the growth of sales in China since the latest version of the Range Rover was introduced in 2012, it is entirely appropriate that this landmark vehicle is destined for a Chinese customer.”
The 6,000,000th Land Rover will subsequently feature in a number of celebration events being staged in China to mark Range Rover’s 45th anniversary. Ultimately this special Range Rover will be sold in the region and its specially commissioned puddle lamps will serve as a permanent reminder of the significance of this unique model in Land Rover’s history.
The 6,000,000th vehicle was built at Land Rover’s Solihull facility, where the company has been producing its world-famous SUVs since 1948. The factory has undergone a significant transformation in recent years, almost trebling production and doubling its workforce.
Today Solihull is a global centre of excellence for aluminium and lightweight vehicle manufacturing. It boasts Europe’s largest aluminium body shop, producing the biggest single aluminium pressing of any vehicle for the Range Rover – weighing only 7kg.
Of the 6,000,000 Land Rovers produced, more than 900,000 are Range Rover vehicles and the iconic luxury SUV is the first car to have been displayed at the world-famous Louvre museum in Paris, where it was cited as an ‘exemplary work of industrial design’.
