The Defender is here, but it's in short supply

The long-awaited Land Rover Defender is arriving at dealerships on time but not in the volume Jaguar Land Rover officials had planned.

The rugged SUV will be thin on the ground for most of the summer as the lone Defender plant, in Nitra, Slovakia, ramps up to full speed after an eight-week shutdown and dealers begin delivering their sold orders.

The $1.8 billion plant, which opened in fall 2018, is supplying Defenders to more than 100 global markets; it has an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. The Land Rover Discovery SUV is also built there.

Land Rover suspended production at its plants March 20-May 18 as the COVID-19 pandemic swept through Europe.

The first Defender deliveries in North America began last week, ending a 23-year absence for the sought-after off-road vehicle. The Defender 110 four-door starts at $50,925, including shipping. Fully loaded, it tops $100,000. A smaller two-door, more expensive Defender 90 is expected in the fourth quarter.

Land Rover officials would not say how many Defenders were on the ground, and though the supply of vehicles from the plant was starting to ramp up, it will be in short supply all summer, Land Rover confirmed. "While the plant was shut down for COVID-19 and production was impacted, every effort is being made to ramp up production throughout the summer to meet demand," spokesman Joe Stauble said.

Calls to Land Rover dealers in major cities revealed that most had not received their first vehicles yet, and those that had were delivering them to customers who had been on waiting lists. Land Rover says just "several hundred" have been sent to dealers.

It may be a long time before dealers have unsold inventory that customers can see in a showroom or take on a test drive. To combat that, Land Rover has a traveling fleet of demo Defenders that rotates among dealerships, allowing customers to see and test the vehicle, said Stauble. The program started in March, but the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders in most states complicated that, as many stores' sales departments were closed.

One indicator of availability of vehicles in high demand is eBay Motors, where often dealers and early customers try to sell hot vehicles for over sticker price. There were no Defenders listed last week. And none has been listed in previous weeks. The 2020 Chevrolet Corvette, on the other hand, had 13 completed listings on eBay and 26 live auctions.

Land Rover expects each of its 188 U.S. dealers will receive at least one Defender by the end of the month.