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If this article is correct it looks like defender might be really finished as we know it.
From the article: Landrover shelves plans for a basic defender as Tata sales fall. Plans to build in India to be scrapped.
Mods if this article is a copyright problem please remove as I do not want to cause any problems.
That article does read very ominous...Quote:
Originally Posted by sashadidi
Not economically viable anymore after they speculated that they might be built back in Solihull.:(
There was always talks of a "tough" Discovery 5 (or what ever the "extended family" of Discoveries will be called in future) and that will be as good as off roading might be...
Sound like we'll have to look after our current cars for a very, very long time...
No great loss if no more defenders are made.........I'm happy enough with mine
Well I have just had a Disco 4 for a few days while my Defender is being serviced and bought back to new with warranty repairs.
I have to say the Disco is very nice, handles great and goes like a rocket compared to a defender. I believe they are very capable off road, relatively reliable, and big sellers. But for me has no feel or soul to it. Instead, I hoped into my wallowing, slow, door cramming, hand brake rubbing noisy tractor and happily drove it home.
It would not surprise me at all if the Defender that we know becomes a memory. The new younger market didn't grow up with Les Hiddens, or the Leyland Brothers. So an iconic shape starts to become irrelevant to them and sales. Instead a new modern replacement a bit boxy but nothing really like the old. A modern utilitarian basic truck heavily electronically aided. LR have the technology on the board with the Disco and RR's.
Hand made cars are expansive to build. The build quality crap and impossible to have the same each day. Warranty must take away any profits that were ever made. Where-as robot production produces far better quality and reliability, and faster. Old crusty Defer owners don't upgrade, young romantics with an interest in a Defender are few and far and are happy to buy second hand anyway. Like it or not, us Defender owners are in the minority when it comes to company profitability.
However LR still need a work horse in the stable, but something like a Disco version of a Defender. Something more profitable, something faster and easier to produce, and something that sells like Diso.
I dare say it won't appeal to many Defender owners. A Tdci is already proof of that. And the 40 a month or so of us who do buy new, aren't a scratch on the 800+ commercial cars a month the Japanese manufactures enjoy. So plenty of work to do, and plenty of marketing as well.
Newhue
I love my D4 its awesome! But I still have a number of series Landies and a Defender, they will be staying in my fleet.
So I can have my D4 and my Defenders too! :BigThumb: