Thread: The reason LandRover isnt building in this market

Originally Posted by DrytheRain

Digger, I don't think I've ever contributed to this thread, but mate, you must have the patience of a saint. I'm glad it's all come good for you in the end, although it sounds like Solitaires have given you exceptional service.

If you have a squizz at the thread 'Pumas and rust', you'll see that I've been getting a bit of a run around on various warranty claims for the last few months. The punchline was delivered on Monday; my local dealer is giving up the franchise.

To answer the (admittedly rhetorical) question posed in the title of this thread, it's because as a brand LR are now more focussed on selling upmarket product to people in the inner cities. There's no push to sell in the bush and let's be honest, they have no truly bush-worthy product to sell anymore. I told the LRA customer service rep as much.

Out of interest, how do those of you with late model cars, who live 500km+ from the nearest dealer, manage? Regular trips? Careful planning? Milking loan cars for all they're worth?

Not many do,they buy a different brand.But LR don't seem to give a rats.

Have a look at a D5,it has been built as an around town vehicle with some off road ability,to compete with volvo.Audie,BMW,RRS,etc.

In fact the buyers in the D5 market more than likely don't give a hoot about off road ability,or dealers out of town.

LR actually don't have a new vehicle that suits our needs anymore.

Originally Posted by DrytheRain

...as a brand LR are now more focussed on selling upmarket product to people in the inner cities. There's no push to sell in the bush and let's be honest, they have no truly bush-worthy product to sell anymore. I told the LRA customer service rep as much.

Out of interest, how do those of you with late model cars, who live 500km+ from the nearest dealer, manage? Regular trips? Careful planning? Milking loan cars for all they're worth?

Exactly DtR and Scarry, it's so disappointing isn't it! And even if the next Defender is great, Land Rover service outside of major cities simply doesn't exist on the whole, which is a clear deminstration of the predominantly urban market the vehicles are designed for. ...Hopefully you're blessed with a great indie nearby, otherwise it can be very difficult to own a Land Rover anywhere outside a city if you're not a mechanic yourself.

Originally Posted by Zeros

Exactly DtR and Scarry, it's so disappointing isn't it! And even if the next Defender is great, Land Rover service outside of major cities simply doesn't exist on the whole, which is a clear deminstration of the predominantly urban market the vehicles are designed for. ...Hopefully you're blessed with a great indie nearby, otherwise it can be very difficult to own a Land Rover anywhere outside a city if you're not a mechanic yourself.

Toyota must be rubbing their hands together.....Patrols have no diesel,Discovery5,we won't go there,Commodore,Falcon and Territory gone,no Defender.

What more could they ask for?

No wonder they(sort of)recently updated the 70 series.

In fact i saw the fleet sales guy(we get our vans through him) at the local Tojo dealer the other day,and he said he can't keep up with sales of the 70 series,particularly the dual cab.

Really?,funny how they can't keep up because Gibson Iron couldn't sell the ones they had.I could have got one with delivery km's on it for 40K. Pat

Funny alright,the guy next door smashed up his Hi Lux and wanted a Dual cab LC quickly as it was his work vehicle.None in Brisbane at any dealer,wait 3 to 4 months at least.Couldnt even find one in Brisbane to test drive.He ended up with a 2016 model demo from Dalby.

Originally Posted by scarry

Toyota must be rubbing their hands together.....Patrols have no diesel,Discovery5,we won't go there,Commodore,Falcon and Territory gone,no Defender.

What more could they ask for?

No wonder they(sort of)recently updated the 70 series.

In fact i saw the fleet sales guy(we get our vans through him) at the local Tojo dealer the other day,and he said he can't keep up with sales of the 70 series,particularly the dual cab.

In terms of service coverage across the continent and two work vehicle options - Land Cruiser and Hilux - Toyota have been rubbing their hands together for eons now. Land Rover dropped that ball in the 80's and now without Defender their clear priority is to corner the luxury urban SUV market.

If new Defender is some kind of awesome HD dual cab variant LR could claw some of the work market back, but let's be honest, they don't appear to be serious about the work vehicle sector or truly national service coverage at the moment.

It will be very interesting to see how Defender is reinvented, pricing and comparison to G professional and Land Cruiser 70. Will Toyota replace 70 series? Any news on that?

The G Professional Wagon is now up on the Mercedes Benz Australia website. According to 4x4 mag, "Australia is the only market in the world to get the heavy duty G-professional 461 models for civilian use". Says a lot about the gap in the market without Defender I reckon.

Originally Posted by scarry

Funny alright,the guy next door smashed up his Hi Lux and wanted a Dual cab LC quickly as it was his work vehicle.None in Brisbane at any dealer,wait 3 to 4 months at least.Couldnt even find one in Brisbane to test drive.He ended up with a 2016 model demo from Dalby.

Um,sorry to burst your bubble but Toyota wait for enough orders for the DC and 76 series before they ship them,thats the reason for the wait,it's got nothing to do with demand,the opposite actually. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

Um,sorry to burst your bubble but Toyota wait for enough orders for the DC and 76 series before they ship them,thats the reason for the wait,it's got nothing to do with demand,the opposite actually. Pat

While I'm sure that's the case, but the Hilux has everything to do with demand. I find it funny all the Toyota haters here find any spin to try and convince themselves that Toyota are a has been or some other glimmer of hope that something goes bad for them. The figures show otherwise wheather you like it or not - not every model is a top seller but overall there's a reason they have around 20% of the market share here in Australia and that the Hilux is not only the top selling 4x4 on the market, but the top selling vehicle full stop at the moment here in Aus and 4 out of 10 of the top selling cars are - you guessed it - Toyotas.

And it's more than just marketing or hoodwinking the population, while I love my Land Rovers I really like my Hilux too.