new UK factory to build land rover engines

[bob10]

From the latest LR monthly - " Land rover and sister company Jaguar are to invest 355 million pounds in a new engine production plant in the UK ." "The new facility will be designed to manufacture a generation of advanced technology, low emission engines." "Land Rover engines are currently supplied by former owners, Ford, but JLR want's to have greater control of it's engine production ". " JLR's fortunes have undergone a dramatic transformation under the ownership of Indian group, Tata Motors, which bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford in 2008." The company employs 19,000 people in Britain, and supports 140,000 jobs in other industries. Another great engine ,like the TD5, on the way? we can only hope, Bob

[PAT303]

So much for all the knockers who said TATA would ruin LR,getting away from Ford and letting it be a master of it's own destiny has lifted the company. Pat

[frantic]

I am still of the view that ford shafted lr and the defender with the engine choice.
Ford in their U.k plant build both the 4 and 5 cyl td puma's but somehow only the ranger got the 3.2 5cyl with 140kw The defender got the 2.2/2.4 with 90. Would a larger engine in the def increase sales? We will never know but look to the past to see a what if, what happened to LR diesel engine sales in Oz when the isuzu was an option?

[JDNSW]

I would expect it to increase sales in Australia, but since about 1990 Australian sales have represented only a tiny proportion of the market. With the major Defender market being UK/Europe, where an engine capacity limit of 2.5 is imposed in some markets, and an emphasis on emissions and economy, I don't think that "shafted" is quite the right word.

John

[frantic]

No the right words would get deleted:D What needed to be recognised by Euro based LR was that there is a rest of world and put up an option for it. Look to all their competitors, jeep had a 4cyl wrangler in U.k we never saw it, toyota has different engines, and LR's former owner sells the ranger/bt50 with the 2.5 in the uk/eu but the rest of world gets the 3.2TD5,with the 2.2 reserved for base model povo packs and the defender, wonder why?

In the 3rd world markets toymota was selling the 4.2 six cyl diesel long after it was regulated out evrywhere else. Toymota sell both the 3.0td AND a 2.5 TD as options on the hilux in the U.k. Jeep only sell the 2.8td in the wrangler(140kw, but no v6 petrol like ROW) but nissan offers both the 2.5 and 3.0 v6 td's. So the 2.5 argument is not relevant.

[Lotz-A-Landies]

At the NRMA Motorfest a fellow happened along who turned out to be from Land Rover UK and in fact the product strategy manager. A very long discussion was had with a small group of Land Rover Ethusiasts and it became very clear that JLR are listening to the end users. He suggested that he had been involved with the company pre BMW ownership and under Tata there is a great enthusiasm for building the brand and opening up into new (recovering old) markets, not seen under the previous two owners.

We discussed the issue of sales, service and quality and from his words, they are looking at building greater customer access to Land Rover service centres if not necessarily increasing the sales centres greatly.

They are very aware of the love of the utilitarian Land Rover (series and Defender) shape and they are already suggesting things like the design parameters are that climate control will have to deal with environmental temp ranges from -40C to +50C. They understood the continued desire for cab chassis/ute and trayback options, mining spec vehicles and for different engine options like using the TDV6 and subsequent generation engines including tow package options of 3 litre and greater.

They sound like they are listening, lets see what happens with the next generation utilitarian land Rover, which may not be named "Defender".

Diana

[JDNSW]

Sounds hopeful compared to the previous owners, who declined to bid on an Australian military contract, apparently on the basis that engaging in such business detracted from their aim to position "Landrover" as a purely luxury brand, at least in Australia.

Although not necessarily only a Ford or even BMW problem - remember that the utility Landrovers were completely withdrawn from the Australian market for around two years with the introduction of the Discovery. At that time I was told at the Melbourne Motor Show that the utility Landrovers would not be re-introduced as they might steal sales from the Discovery.

John

[bob10]

Another article in LR monthly states, in part ; "Jaguar LR recorded a 26% increase in Worldwide sales for September, with China delivering another 157% for Jaguar, and 85% for LR. China edged ahead of North America to become LR's biggest customer, after the UK. Septembers top 5 sales locations were : UK 7,596, China 3,510, Nth America 2,976, Italy 1,075, Russia 1,049. India recorded a record month for LR, sales up 155%. JLR's success was a bonus for TATA, with a 24% rise in sales." I think we can see the markets JLR will be aiming for, no mention of Aus. Bob