 | Home > General & Technical (L663) > Rocky start for Land Rover’s new Defender |
 
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
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From the FT:
"The new Land Rover Defender is “tough enough to take on any unexpected surprises,” according to a James Bond-themed ad that features three of the relaunched off-roaders careering down a grassy hill. But the coronavirus crisis may prove one surprise too many for Britain’s biggest carmaker Jaguar Land Rover — delaying the rollout of one version of the car and damping early orders. The hitch has given JLR’s rival, billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, a chance to recover lost ground in his race to launch a competitor vehicle. Ineos, the chemicals group controlled by Sir Jim, plans to make the “spiritual successor” to the iconic Land Rover model that was taken out of production in 2016. After failing to buy the rights to the vehicle from JLR, the businessman vowed to make his own version. While production of JLR’s model began in Slovakia this year, the pandemic slammed the brakes on its operations, closing the plant for months, delaying deliveries of test-drive vehicles to the all-important US and Chinese markets, and closing dealerships around the globe. Cars arrived in US and Chinese showrooms last week, something that “should have happened 10 weeks ago,” Nick Collins, head of the Defender project, told the FT. The delayed release of new Bond film No Time to Die from April to November has also pushed back one of the vehicle’s key marketing events. The film had been expected to increase awareness of the brand in the US and China. JLR’s order book of just 22,000 vehicles, disclosed in its results last Monday, left analysts underwhelmed. Yet the company, which has been making cars for almost a century, still enjoys significant advantages over Ineos and executives privately say they are not daunted by the new competitor." https://www.ft.com/content/c90cc60e-9bd3-4d9c-8a0c-0fcedfe8426c " When the Defender was discontinued in 2016, prices started at £23,000, although in the US, where the car has not been sold since 1996, models can change hands for more than $100,000. The new model costs more because of expensive technology including over-the-air software updates, and because it is built on an integrated chassis to allow better road driving as well as off-road capability. But the number of orders disappointed analysts. Robin Zhu, a Hong Kong-based analyst for Bernstein, said: “22,000 orders is somewhat underwhelming in the context of the heritage of the Defender nameplate and management's comments around strong demand.” Despite being configured online 1.6m times by enthusiasts, only 11,000 customer orders have been placed for the car so far, with a further 11,000 test-drive cars ordered by dealers, according to JLR’s annual results. JLR executives remain positive, saying a large number of test-drive vehicles are required for dealers in the US and China. Test cars produced in Slovakia before lockdown only arrived in China and the US last week. Defender boss Nick Collins expects orders to swell in the coming months. “Our research tells us that 65 per cent of customers won’t order until after a test drive,” he said. “In the context of not getting test drives, we’re actually extremely positive where we are.” |
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23rd Jun 2020 11:52am |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753 
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I’m not a member of any social networks but you can feel free to post about my recent experiences of New Defender and today’s water leak ............ No wonder people don’t want to buy the cars when QC is abysmal
https://www.defender2.net/forum/topic73084.html Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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23rd Jun 2020 12:32pm |
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| J77 Member Since: 04 Nov 2019 Location: Fife Posts: 3388 
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An analyst from Hong Kong is disappointed!! Well considering his part of the world has caused a global pandemic and thousands out of work and the future looking bleak for thousands more, I’m surprised any has sold at all.
Last edited by J77 on 23rd Jun 2020 12:37pm. Edited 1 time in total |
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23rd Jun 2020 12:33pm |
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| AMBxx Member Since: 24 Jul 2016 Location: York Posts: 1030 
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Half the sales are to dealers for demo? Ouch.
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23rd Jun 2020 12:36pm |
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| Zed Member Since: 07 Oct 2017 Location: In the woods Posts: 3254 
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11,000 customer orders is a disaster any way you look at it. WARNING.
This post may contain sarcasm. |
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23rd Jun 2020 12:56pm |
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| AMBxx Member Since: 24 Jul 2016 Location: York Posts: 1030
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Maybe they just need more dealers
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23rd Jun 2020 12:57pm |
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| Zed Member Since: 07 Oct 2017 Location: In the woods Posts: 3254
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Ha!
All that talk of no discounts is out of the window now. With the state of the industry in disarray, JLR back in the red and new models to shift it's a buyers market. WARNING. This post may contain sarcasm. |
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23rd Jun 2020 1:03pm |
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| Rashers Member Since: 21 Jun 2015 Location: Norfolk Posts: 3484 
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Except if you are arrogant and treat your customers with contempt
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23rd Jun 2020 1:06pm |
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| Tim in Scotland Member Since: 23 May 2007 Location: The Land that time forgot Posts: 3753
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I would say that they need to get some if the directors out of their plush offices and free cars and onto the shop floor to see what is going on down there - a few days of working on the assembly line might help them to appreciate why people aren’t buying the cars. On my last trip to sea I had the CEO of Maersk onboard for a 28 day round trip, he does it every year and not always on the shiniest newest ship in the fleet. Doesn’t half get the middle management jumping around when the big boss visits the coal face and gets 28 days of living with the people right at the bottom of the management tree. Even better is he gets asked questions that middle management would rather not be asked and they try to dodge at seminars! Pangea Green D250 90 HSE with Air Suspension, Off-road Pack, Towing Pack, Black Contrast roof , rear recovery eyes, Front bash plate, Classic flaps all round, extended wheel arch kit and a few bits from PowerfulUK Expel Clear Gloss PPF to come 2020 D240 1st Edition in Pangea Green with Acorn interior. Now gone - old faithful, no mechanical issues whatsoever ever but the leaks and rattles all over the place won’t be missed! |
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23rd Jun 2020 1:18pm |
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| milesr3 Member Since: 12 Feb 2013 Location: Suffolk Posts: 873 
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22,000 orders, half of which are dealer-demos and all those references to the Grenadier ought to be a bit of a reality check for the company that used to make Land Rovers?
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23rd Jun 2020 1:57pm |
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| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
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"His part of the world" - are you for real 
The key part of the quote is "management's comments around strong demand" - JLR senior management can try and pull the wool over the eyes of the public, but it's a very different matter to start being economical with the truth to these business analysts. That does not go down well and will have ramifications. |
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23rd Jun 2020 3:18pm |
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| Chugga90 Member Since: 07 Sep 2014 Location: Bucks Posts: 208 |
JLR?  
Once they get your money they do not care at all. |
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23rd Jun 2020 6:28pm |
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| Morepower Member Since: 08 Jan 2013 Location: Fife, Scotland Posts: 630 
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Agreed.... I've owned (and still own) many Italian cars... So I'm used to being a "development driver"... However, The difference in customer support is miles apart... When I had issues with my 18 month old 90... LR customer services where best described as arrogant and in reality where plain rude and really just went round in circles trying to tell me that the paint falling off wasn't a manufacturing issue... On the other, When my brand new Alfa 166 wipers went west chewing themselves to shreds the first day it rained, Alfa where great in getting everything sorted and lending me a 159.. Which Caused me to 'upgrade' 6 months later... (Although the wife still doesn't let me forget selling her favourite car)
Premium brand... No chance.... reading that Tim's new 110 leaks on a 60k+ motor sums it up really.... It doesn't matter how bad it is, It can always get worse... 2013 Bowler 110 (Sold) 2016 Bowler 90 Rally Spec (Sold) |
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23rd Jun 2020 6:39pm |
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| nowrxo Member Since: 10 Sep 2015 Location: None Posts: 79
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Why are people trying to compare car sales when we're in the middle of a pandemic and the economy (all around the world) is in the toilet? Are you (or these analyst types) expecting people to be out buying expensive cars like the new Defender at such a time?
* In the month of April, only 4321 new car sales were registered in the whole of the UK. [Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52508010] * GDP fell by 20.4% in April. [Source: https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomest...april2020] * 8.4 million workers in the UK are on furlough. [Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52853333] * 20.5 million jobs were lost in the USA in April [Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/08/jobs-report-april-2020.html] Having said all that, I looked again at the initial post, saw the author's name and it all made sense. |
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23rd Jun 2020 7:05pm |
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