"Ian Rawlings" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
[email protected]...
> On 2005-10-22, Huw <hedydd> wrote:
>
>> They claim that volumes do not justify developing a new model but
>> frankly they have given the whole market sector over to Japanese
>> brands. Just look at all those 4x4 pick-ups on the road today. If
>> they had pulled their fingers out 10 years ago a majority of that
>> market worldwide could have been Land Rover's.
>
> Indeed, although I think that a Defender model would always lose out
> to the pick-ups because making a pick-up that's as capable off-road as
> a proper off-roader isn't easy due to the suspension design
> compromises necessary for things like flat loadbeds and relatively low
> tailgates. Any 4x4 with the off-road capabilities of the Defender is
> always going to be either expensive or very basic, so would always be
> a niche product as hardly anyone needs the kind of capability that the
> Defender has. Even farmers rarely need it as a pickup with fat tyres
> can handle muddy fields but doesn't have the articulation needed for
> real axle-twisters.
>
> The Defender seems to be a product that has capabilities that hardly
> anyone can justify, I doubt that any new model Defenders, if they ever
> appear, will be as capable. Even I, as an off-road enthusiast,
> couldn't justify a 90 as it's not as flexible as a 110 due to the crap
> load area. The 90 is better off-road for sure but it can't carry
> much.
>
They have not built vehicles that people want and need in large volumes. Yes
there is the farmer market for 90's in the UK and 110's everywhere but it is
a small and shrinking market. They could have been building pick-up trucks
that people actually want and need. They could have even set up a low build
cost factory in S Africa, Thailand, Pakistan or India like the Japanese and
Ford have done, letting Solihull concentrate on the higher value bits and
vehicles. Instead they and we are stuck with an outdated product with a high
build cost aimed at a rapidly shrinking market of mainly farmers. Even
utilities are now buying pick-up trucks. The Army has also shrunk its orders
for Defender drastically .
So where do they go from here? There will probably be one last swansong next
year updating the engine to the four cylinder Ford units but after that it
is probable that LR will dump the utility sector altogether, unless they
bring a badge engineered and more sophisticated version of Thai built Ford
trucks in. Maybe even modified diesel American trucks. Why not, as long as
they produce what the market will buy in numbers and preserve the utility
nature of the brand?
The success of any brand of vehicle is measured by the profitable production
of large volumes of safe vehicles which are in demand. Unfortunately the
present Defender fails on all counts and cannot carry them into the future
with success.
Huw
