 | Home > Off Topic > LIGHTER, FASTER, FURTHER |
 
|
|
|
| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018   
|
Is this really groundbreaking...
JAGUAR LAND ROVER’S GROUNDBREAKING ADVANCED COMPOSITES PROJECT "The Tucana project is a four year programme to make the UK a world leader in low-carbon technology, helping prevent 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions between 2023 and 2032 by accelerating mainstream use of electric vehicles and making vehicles lighter to both decrease tailpipe emissions and reduce energy consumption of electrified powertrains." " Jaguar Land Rover aims to increase vehicle stiffness by 30 per cent, cut weight by 35kg and further refine the crash safety structure through the strategic use of tailored composites, such as carbon fibre. Reducing the vehicle body weight will allow the fitting of larger batteries with increased range – without impacting CO2 emissions."  Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge https://www.jaguarlandrover.com/news/2021/...es-project |
||
26th Jan 2021 1:40pm |
|
| Grenadier Member Since: 23 Jul 2014 Location: The foot of Mont Blanc... Posts: 5829  
|
'Is this really groundbreaking... '
In general terms, no. Almost every hyper/super car of note of the past 15-20 years has been carbon composite. Bugatti, Koenisgsegg, McLaren, Ferrari etc. But I suppose if developed for, and extensively used in, medium priced family saloons and SUVs, then perhaps it is. Not the use per se, but making the manufacturing process cheap enough for use in mid priced Jaguar branded cars, and viable enough for churning them out on the assembly line. Personally, rather than pratting about with this nonsense, they'd be better off spending the millions on this development on a good accountant and market consultancy who can advise them where/what their future should be. Composit Carbon bums on SUVs are going to be useless if there's no factory or workforce to produce them because Jaguar has tanked.  Monsieur Le Grenadier
I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list..... 2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 2:53pm |
|
| lohr500 Member Since: 14 Sep 2014 Location: Skipton Posts: 1317 
|
Well the band did play on as the SS Titanic went down.
I suppose it is good headline grabbing material that is relatively easy to churn out and deflects attention from the fact that the SS JLR is also taking on water fast. |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 4:04pm |
|
| discomog Member Since: 09 May 2015 Location: Notts/Lincs Border Posts: 2530 
|
Big question is - who is planning to take over JLR and how far will they let it sink before putting in their bid. The motor industry pond is full of big fish and JLR are just a minnow waiting to be swallowed up. Defender 90XS SW
Mini Countryman Cooper S Morgan Plus 8 |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 4:45pm |
|
| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
|
Alfa 4C might be the cheapest car with an all carbon tub ~ well within the budget range of JLR's models & Maclaren have the time to produce a tub down from 4,000 hours to just 4 hours. Wonder how much of the project is being funded by the Government rather than any one company's own coffers. |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 4:59pm |
|
| DSC-off Member Since: 16 Oct 2014 Location: North East Posts: 1428 
|
Hmm, in a sustainable world, how do you recycle a body shell like that?
If it's entirely a single metal type, steel or aluminium, it can be crushed or shredded, then melted down and reused. If you have a composite construction, fibreglass and carbon fibre, bonded and riveted to metal, it's going to a lot harder to separate the bits when the time comes. Then you've got to invent a use for the crushed/shredded plastic. A bit like all the dead batteries that will kicking around in the future, what do you do with them? Steel and aluminium on the other hand can be infinitely recycled into more cars, cans, building materials or Amazon delivery vans. |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 9:40pm |
|
| 90 Dreamer Member Since: 13 Jul 2019 Location: Oop North Posts: 2169 
|
UK company Prodrive have come up with a solution for recycling carbon fibre and then remaking composite panels from the 'new' material......
They have previous links with LR in doing some RR build parts I believe |
||
|
26th Jan 2021 9:52pm |
|
| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
|
I don't think modern cars are entirely a single metal type now though.
And whether there's any commercial advantage to stripping out the different types or not? |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 6:54am |
|
| mse Member Since: 06 Apr 2008 Location: UK Posts: 5038 
|
Good luck to JLR and new practices in the main stream
And for those who seem to want JLR to be bought or fail etc...There are plenty of similar sized/small/smaller motor manufactures - JLR and Volvo are similar sized. With JLR being a UK based company, we should be positive and support them to keep the thousands of uk workers, firms etc in business and be positive not negative the last thing we want is to loose another manufacture Mike |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 10:39am |
|
| markb110 Member Since: 22 May 2010 Location: Guildford Posts: 2644  
|
Land Rover at the very least needs a ‘bums on seats’ vehicle in the vane of the first generation Freelander.
It can’t be a vehicle that has to have Gerry giving his utter cobblers of a speech attached to it. Is has to be something that sets the 1980’s traditionalists into a foamy mouthed tailspin, if nothing else than to give the rest of us a laugh. It has to be something that inspires the twenty somethings to desire a Land Rover and not desire an Audi A3 but buys a golf instead. That twenty something needs to become a brand advocate and not just a number putting up with rubbish service and a vehicle sitting in a service bay for warrantee work (my wife’s Velar today, another story, nothing major). That twenty something should then stay with the brand and perhaps move up the model scale, read price tag. But as we all know Gerry, the world will get another £100k plus Range Rover and an £80k plus SVR something that will be part ex-Ed for a Merc in three years time. Just my thoughts...... |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 10:55am |
|
| Grenadier Member Since: 23 Jul 2014 Location: The foot of Mont Blanc... Posts: 5829
|
I don't think anyone wants JLR to fail, we all love the brand and I'm sure love 'British' stuff and success stories. It's just the vision, the sales, the reputation and the industry insider/journo knowledge that constantly raises questions about their future. Certainly Jaguar's. And whilst you're right about Volvo's size, their respective reputations over recent have been poles apart. Whilst not cheap, Volvo have a reputation going back decades for safe, reliable, 'sensibly' priced family cars. Indeed, for some, a history of being the safest cars on the planet, so where would you want your family to be? That's a reputation that goes back through generations, with families buying Volvos again and again and again. Total, intergenerational brand loyalty. Whilst there are many people who love the Green Oval and Pouncing Cat, none of those statements (certainly reliability and affordability) can be said of JLR, who's reputation has flip flopped in the same period. Personally I think people tend to buy a JLR for what it is. Volvo buyers buy for what it does. Volvo's brand image and customer loyalty has been exceptional for eons. In certain markets, like the US, they're also as aspirational as BMW or Merc. Ask many people which brand makes the safest car and despite many brands now matching or even surpassing them, I'm sure your average Joe on the street would say Volvo. Their reliability (notably electrics apparently) has suffered in recent years, but they're still a solid mid table performer, or higher on certain models, whereas JLR is firmly as the bottom. Monsieur Le Grenadier I've not been everywhere, but it's on my list..... 2011 Puma 110DC - Corris Grey |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 11:28am |
|
| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
|
Do you know who owns Volvo...it's not Volvo...
Flag waving has it's place ~ but JLR has not been a sustainable or consistantly profitable business for many years. Until JLR sheds itself of the delusion of it being a million car manufacturer and finds it's right size then it does nobody any favours to pretend otherwise. Reliability, customer service, cost cutting can all be tracked back to a single disastrous decision. Here's an example of the poor management ~ look at how the I Pace sales remained robust in Europe in 2020 (when others say covid has decimated the industry), it's been around for more than a few years now and yet it doesn't have a single BEV stablemate. Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge Click image to enlarge JLR once had a lead in this market, in terms of European competition, but because it wasted so much money on pie in the sky projects, it now sells less than Smart! Car Industry Analysis (@lovecarindustry) Tweeted: 2020 results: last year was as bad for petrol/diesel cars as good for pure electric cars. The latest information from JATO indicates that registrations of BEVs soared 106% to a record of 733,400 units. This is 6.2% of total market! Volkswagen Group was the top seller among groups https://t.co/oSKextepsn https://twitter.com/lovecarindustry/status...90464?s=20 |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 12:53pm |
|
| mse Member Since: 06 Apr 2008 Location: UK Posts: 5038
|
And the owner of volvo is significant how...you do know who owns JLR
As for the sales number irrelevant and the market share point, they LR have hold what the have, bar minor changes, reasonably consistently for year. Jag is a bit different They do need an more mass car, the DS cheaper etc Mike |
||
|
27th Jan 2021 1:44pm |
|
| Supacat Member Since: 16 Oct 2012 Location: West Yorkshire Posts: 11018
|
Hardly ~ if you carry the overheads, plant, equipment, employees, etc for a capacity of 1 million cars and only ever sell half that volume, you are not going to make the returns necessary to survive. That is the whole point. JLR's most profitable years were NOT when it was selling most cars but when it was selling less but had a balanced company. Additionally, the drive to upscale at a rate that was not manageable has created it's own issues, chief amongst them being reliability. In the words of Henry Ford: "A manufacturer is not through with his customer when a sale is completed. He has then only started with his customer. In the case of an automobile the sale of the machine is only something in the nature of an introduction. If the machine does not give service, then it is better for the manufacturer if he never had the introduction, for he will have the worst of all advertisements-a dissatisfied customer." |
||
|
2nd Feb 2021 7:09am |
|
|
|
| All times are GMT |
< Previous Topic | Next Topic > |
Posting Rules
|
Site Copyright © 2006-2024 Futuranet Ltd & Martin Lewis
