Land Rover extends Defender production

The Land Rover Defender has proven to be an absolute survivor, and the venerable offroader has been tackling treacherous challenges in the wilderness for decades. Plus, when adding together the earlier Series I, II, and III models, the company's Solihull factory has built over 2 million of them. The Defender isn't bowing out without a fight, either. Contrary to Land Rover's official announcement at the beginning of the year, the iconic vehicle's assembly looks to stay at the UK plant into early 2016.

An anonymous worker at the Solihull divulged some details about the plan to the Birmingham Post. "It is going to be extended until at least the end of February," this person said about the production expansion. Although, the source also indicated some talk about even going into April.

The automaker is officially denying such a long extension, though. "Defender production in Solihull is now entering its final phase. We have not confirmed an end date for UK production, however we do not expect this to continue past the end of January 2016," Land Rover UK spokesperson Tracey Tompsett said in a statement to Autoblog.

It's not goodwill on Land Rover's part that's keeping the Defender in production, but rather a surge in demand. According to Automotive News Europe, the offroader's worldwide volume is up 29 percent through June to 11,511 units, compared to total sales of 17,781 examples for all of 2014. The company reportedly has a replacement under development, but the new SUV is rumored to be a bit less rugged than the long-lived, current version.