Where Are Land Rover Defenders Made? Factory Guide

Where Are Land Rover Defenders Made Today?

If you are wondering where Land Rover Defenders are made, the answer might surprise you. The new Defender is not built in England. Every Defender 90, 110, and 130 rolling off the production line today comes from Nitra, Slovakia.

JLR (formerly Jaguar Land Rover) opened the Nitra Manufacturing Centre in October 2018 after investing roughly €1.4 billion into the facility. The factory covers about 300,000 square metres and has an annual capacity of around 150,000 vehicles across three shifts. Alongside the Defender, the plant also builds the Land Rover Discovery.

Moving Defender production out of the UK was a controversial decision. For nearly seven decades, every Land Rover rolled out of the Solihull plant in the West Midlands. But JLR needed a modern, high-volume facility that could handle the aluminium-intensive construction of the new Defender, and the purpose-built Nitra plant was designed from the ground up to do exactly that.

Inside the Nitra Factory

The Nitra plant is one of the most advanced automotive factories in Europe. It uses over 600 robots in its body shop alone and features a fully integrated paint shop, trim and final assembly line, and quality testing facility all under one roof.

Demand for the Defender has been so strong that JLR added a third shift at Nitra in 2022, effectively running the factory around the clock. The Defender consistently accounts for the majority of JLR’s order book, with wait times stretching to several months for popular configurations like the Defender V8 and OCTA.

Each new Defender goes through a series of rigorous quality checks before leaving the factory, including water testing for leak resistance and a test track session. Despite being mass-produced, the build quality has improved significantly over the hand-built classic Defenders.

Where Were Classic Defenders Made?

The original Land Rover was born at the Solihull plant in the West Midlands, England in 1948. That factory remained the home of every Series Land Rover and Defender for 68 years straight.

The Solihull plant was not originally built for car production. The UK Government constructed it in the late 1930s as a “shadow factory” for aircraft engine production during World War II. The Rover Company took it over after the war, and engineer Maurice Wilks sketched out the original Land Rover concept on a nearby beach in Wales. Production of the Series I began in 1948, and Land Rover never looked back.

Over the decades, more than two million Land Rovers and Defenders were built at Solihull. Each classic Defender took approximately 56 hours to hand-build, with workers assembling the aluminium body panels onto the steel chassis largely by hand. Annual production peaked at 56,000 units in 1971, and the vehicle officially received the “Defender” name in 1990 when Land Rover needed to distinguish it from the newer Discovery and Range Rover models.

The last classic Defender, a Defender 90 Heritage Soft Top, rolled off the Solihull production line on 29 January 2016. If you want the full story, I covered it in detail in the history of the Land Rover Defender.

Defenders Built Around the World: CKD Assembly

While Solihull was always the primary factory, classic Defenders were also assembled in several countries through CKD (Completely Knocked Down) kits. Land Rover would ship components from England, and local factories would assemble them on site. This practice helped Land Rover avoid import taxes and meet local content requirements in various markets.

Key CKD Assembly Locations

Santana Motors, Spain (1958 to 1994) was the most significant overseas producer. They built Land Rovers under licence from 1958, initially from CKD kits and later developing their own Santana-branded derivatives after the licence expired in 1983.

Otokar, Turkey (1987 to 2016) assembled Defenders for the Turkish market and continued right up until the classic model ended production.

Karmann, Brazil (1999 to 2006) assembled Defenders for the South American market using CKD kits shipped from Solihull.

Other CKD assembly locations included Minerva in Belgium (which built military versions in the 1950s), Tempo in West Germany, and facilities in South Africa, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Australia. These overseas operations helped make the Defender one of the most widely distributed vehicles in automotive history, with examples shipped to over 180 countries.

Why Did Production Move From Solihull to Slovakia?

The decision to build the new Defender in Slovakia rather than Solihull came down to several practical factors.

First, the Solihull plant was already at capacity producing Range Rover and Range Rover Sport models. There simply was not enough room to add a third model line with the volume JLR expected from the new Defender.

Second, the new Defender uses a completely different construction method to the old one. The classic Defender had a separate steel chassis with bolt-on aluminium body panels. The new model uses the D7x monocoque platform, a bonded and riveted aluminium structure that requires entirely different manufacturing equipment. Building a new factory from scratch was actually more cost-effective than retrofitting the aging Solihull facility.

Third, labour costs in Slovakia are lower than in the UK, and the Slovak government offered significant incentives to attract JLR’s investment. The Nitra region also has a growing pool of skilled automotive workers, thanks to nearby plants operated by Jaguar Land Rover’s competitors.

The high price of the Defender is partly explained by its premium aluminium construction and the advanced manufacturing processes at Nitra, even if production costs themselves are lower than they would be in England.

Where Are Defender Engines Made?

While the Defender is assembled in Slovakia, its engines come from the UK. The Ingenium family of four-cylinder and six-cylinder petrol and diesel engines are built at JLR’s Engine Manufacturing Centre (EMC) in Wolverhampton, England. This £1 billion facility opened in 2014 and produces all of the inline engines used across the JLR range.

The supercharged 5.0-litre V8 used in the Defender V8 was sourced from the Ford Bridgend plant in Wales before that facility closed, and later from JLR’s own operations. The twin-turbo V8 in the Defender OCTA uses a BMW-sourced 4.4-litre unit assembled in Germany.

So while “Made in Slovakia” appears on the new Defender’s build plate, significant components still come from England and other countries. It is a truly international vehicle.

Where Will Future Defenders Be Built?

JLR has confirmed that an all-electric Defender variant is coming in 2027. Known internally as the “Defender Sport” or “Defender 80,” this smaller electric Defender will be built at JLR’s Halewood plant on Merseyside, England, not in Slovakia.

JLR is investing £500 million to transform Halewood into an EV production facility. The electric Defender will sit on JLR’s new EMA (Electric Modular Architecture) platform, with batteries supplied by Tata’s new gigafactory in Somerset, England, which is scheduled to open in 2027.

Meanwhile, the Nitra plant itself is being prepared for electrification. JLR has announced plans to transition the Slovak factory to produce next-generation electric vehicles, which could include an electric version of the full-size Defender in the future. I wrote more about the Defender electric and hybrid lineup if you want the full breakdown.

Quick Factory Summary

Here is a simple breakdown of where Defenders have been and will be built:

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Land Rover Defenders still made in England?

No. The current Defender (90, 110, and 130) is built in Nitra, Slovakia. However, the upcoming electric Defender Sport will be made at the Halewood plant in England starting in 2027. Defender engines are still manufactured in Wolverhampton, England.

When did Defender production leave the UK?

The last classic Defender was built at Solihull on 29 January 2016. When the new Defender launched in 2019, production had moved entirely to JLR’s new factory in Nitra, Slovakia.

How many Defenders were built at Solihull?

Over two million Land Rovers and Defenders were built at Solihull between 1948 and 2016, making it one of the longest continuous production runs for any vehicle model in history.

Is the Defender a British car?

The Defender is designed and engineered in the UK at JLR’s headquarters in Gaydon, Warwickshire. Its engines are built in Wolverhampton. But final assembly takes place in Slovakia. So it is a British-designed vehicle assembled in continental Europe, which is common for modern car manufacturers.