The end of the Defender means special editions aplenty like this one from STARTECH.

German tuning house Brabus has a division called STARTECH and they specialise in Land Rover and Jaguar vehicles.  Here’s their latest creation, the STARTECH SIXTY8, so named as it’s been sixty eight years since the original Land Rover was designed.  The mechanicals appear pretty stock, yet the exterior and interior is anything but.

I think most Defender owners would agree that’s an improvement.  It’s like a Range Rover interior transplanted into a Defender, which is kind of ironic given that the Series Land Rovers becames Defenders more or less inherited the Range Rover’s constant 4WD and coil-sprung underpinnings.

So we have here heated seats, a sports steering wheel, special parkbrake lever, scuff plates, shift knob and pedals.  The seats are beautifully trimmed, and there’s a double-DIN multimedia system from Alpine which incorporates satnav and a reversing camera.  And all yours for EUR 67,990 for the five-seater or 69,900 for the seven-seater which is around $106,000 AUD.

Hmm, the passengers still have to look sideways to find a C-pillar in the way.

Not often you see such a screen in a Defender. One usability improvement is that the markings on the transfer case lever are easier to read now.  Even if few owners would be using the lever.

Not sure I like all that black-at-the-back, but it’s certainly different.  Those are 18″ rims with BFG all-terrain tyres.  Might have been better with the white lettering turned in.

Like the style, but a Defender not your thing?  Here’s a three more of Brabus and STARTECH’s creations: