Hippo
Lord Hippo
- Posts
- 53,744
Follow the white dot on the rear diff of the vehicle in front, illuminated from underneath, and they'll be ok.I hear the headlights aren’t great
Follow the white dot on the rear diff of the vehicle in front, illuminated from underneath, and they'll be ok.I hear the headlights aren’t great
I disagree. Production was steady for many years before production ended. The military want approx 1/3 discount on the price they would have sold it elsewhere for. That can't be far off making them for nothing. Why give a discount when you can sell for more elsewhere. I cant see them recouping money on after sales contracts with the military being that forceful on initial purchase price. When I went on the tratter production tour they told us about what I have put here when we asked. When yer think about the reality of business needing to make a profit then it makes sense. They don't need the military advertising now the web is here and free to advertise on. Like youtube.
I appreciate it goes out to tender. The last purchase of 8,000 did. Regardless of meeting spec, they know the tender process pushes down the price. LR has simply don't need or want that type of work. At the same time the army want something different. So they won't supply in future anyway.My comments on military contracts were generalised rather than specific to LR. What you have been told about the MoD demanding a discount is inaccurate. We are simply not allowed to do business in that way. LR may have felt that in order to secure the contract they would have needed to sell at that price, but that would reflect on how uncompetitive they had become. We generate a Statement of User Requirement (SUR) which once endorsed is broken down into the specific capabilities that need to be generated, the numbers required, and the timeframe in which we need them. We then use the Award process to put the requirement out to tender and invite companies to bid for the contract. The winning company will have met the product capabilities and the testing and demonstration requirements, will be able to meet the scale and timeframe requirements and will have made an affordable bid. If all bidders meet the requirements then value for money may be the final discriminator. What you cannot do is approach a single company and demand a discount. Companies invest a huge amount of money in making their bids and any suggestion that the Award process has been circumvented or another company has been approached directly or given different terms, will result in a legal challenge which would delay the delivery of the capability by months if not years.
It should be said as well, the army don't need land rovers much anymore, they came to the end of their usefulness on foreign soil when IED's and explosives became more widespread, modern wars need specialist vehicles which are built for war, that takes a lot of investment as others have said, for limited return if any. Fitting armour to a defender just wont cut it anymore, and trying to design something from scratch, doesnt in my mind make much sense for land rover.
Below is the foxhound which replaced the defender, think you can see the similarities but the mine protection underneath is next level -
its definitely doable for land rover, but is it worth it.. i dont know
The tender process pushes down the price because as a Govt Dept, under Treasury rules we are not permitted to accept a more expensive bid, if an alternative (and valid) bid would deliver the capability at lower cost. With something like vehicles, what can happen is that a company may make a bid that barely allows them to break even; knowing that if their product is accepted they are very likely to win the subsequent support contract, often by teaming up with a dedicated support provider.I appreciate it goes out to tender. The last purchase of 8,000 did. Regardless of meeting spec, they know the tender process pushes down the price. LR has simply don't need or want that type of work. At the same time the army want something different. So they won't supply in future anyway.
Even if they did make a suitable vehicle, they don't want the work. It doesn't matter how its worded. They don't want to miss out on £7k of profit per vehicle. That's what they say they lost on the wolfe's.The tender process pushes down the price because as a Govt Dept, under Treasury rules we are not permitted to accept a more expensive bid, if an alternative (and valid) bid would deliver the capability at lower cost. With something like vehicles, what can happen is that a company may make a bid that barely allows them to break even; knowing that if their product is accepted they are very likely to win the subsequent support contract, often by teaming up with a dedicated support provider.
However, LR don't want the work because they no longer make a product that meets any military requirement.
Even if they did make a suitable vehicle, they don't want the work. It doesn't matter how its worded. They don't want to miss out on £7k of profit per vehicle. That's what they say they lost on the wolfe's.
target practice is a requirementthey no longer make a product that meets any military requirement.
Even if they did make a suitable vehicle, they don't want the work. It doesn't matter how its worded. They don't want to miss out on £7k of profit per vehicle. That's what they say they lost on the wolfe's.
I would think they made a profit on military LR's built but it would have been a lot lower than normal. We asked why LR seemed to turn their back on military vehicles which started the conversation. That's when he pointed out the price was about £15 to £15.5k for a military build. I assume wolfe spec. His point being the same effort to build one for none military cost the same but sold for about £23k or more. That's quite a hash reality considering LR's history with military but they increased in volume to the extent they don't, and won't take on sales like that when they can shift another one for more instead.If you are saying that LR lost £7K on each Wolf they sold to the MoD, then unless they were making that back and more in support, then they should have sacked their commercial team. Companies that underbid on contracts benefit no one, including the MoD.
British Aerospace (as was) did this with the Nimrod MR2 replacement. They had a substantial gap in orders that would have brought production at Warton to a near standstill for a significant time. So they underbid for the contract in order to stabilise the production line until Typhoon production started. They then gradually pushed the price up to try to recoup the costs until the full scale of their technical as well as financial ineptitude became apparent. Their dishonesty in the bidding process ended up costing their shareholders and the British taxpayer hundreds of millions. However, it achieved their aim of keeping their workforce together, and when Typhoon production started they lost all interest in MRA4 and made it so expensive that the Govt had no choice but to cancel it. No wonder they became known as British Wasteofspace and had to change their name - twice.
He said they did make money on it. Media report they don't due to a lot of manual assembly but he said if it lost money then it would have stopped years ago.You would have to question on the civvie street Defender if they made any real money on it. I would be surprised if they only lost 7K on the wolfs.
Cheers
I would think they made a profit on military LR's built but it would have been a lot lower than normal. We asked why LR seemed to turn their back on military vehicles which started the conversation. That's when he pointed out the price was about £15 to £15.5k for a military build. I assume wolfe spec. His point being the same effort to build one for none military cost the same but sold for about £23k or more. That's quite a hash reality considering LR's history with military but they increased in volume to the extent they don't, and won't take on sales like that when they can shift another one for more instead.
Another interesting one was asking why they didn't waxoyl LR's as standard. He said it would make it messy to work with if done in production and stink. If done at the end its a messy process and they need to be left to dry oft before dispatch. All valid points so they leave it for owners to do to their own requirements instead.
Its strange to see them talking about the vehicle we love (fingers crossed) in that way. As a business they have to be profitable and practical.
^^ thisI still think that it was not so much LR dropping the military, but the military dropping the Defender
I’m not trying to be funny, my £500 RangeRover wouldn’t sell to pay yourmumsinsurance for a year.
watch this see how much is in common with your Evoque you may work out where I’m coming from.
I don't think anyone would criticise hard work or having a nice car, but looking at the reliability records, I think you have to be a bit of a masochist to choose an Evoke or any other Range Rover for that matter. I've had a lot of cars but I have never bought an expensive one with my own money, all the cars I have bought myself have been old and cheap, I preferred to put money away for buying a house and later for my pension.Still trying to insinuate that because I have a nice car I must've been given it by mummy and daddy I see. Some people just work hard, save, and forgo things other people have... yes I managed to get a good paying job quite young, maybe you should try praising hard work rather than trying to put people down because of some preconceived notion of who I am. Cheers
Still trying to insinuate that because I have a nice car I must've been given it by mummy and daddy I see. Some people just work hard, save, and forgo things other people have... yes I managed to get a good paying job quite young, maybe you should try praising hard work rather than trying to put people down because of some preconceived notion of who I am. Cheers
Welcome To LandyZone, the Land Rover Forums!
Here at LandyZone we have plenty of very knowledgable members so if you have any questions about your Land Rover or just want to connect with other Landy owners, you're in the right place.
Registering is free and easy just click here, we hope to see you on the forums soon!