:?: :?: Nasty rumour

[TonyB]

Heard on the grapevine today that LRA will soon stop importing Defenders. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Apparently they are going to concentrate their business on the Disco's RaRo's & Freeloaders.


Hope it's not true.

[hiline]

best you stay out of the grapevine :?

i think it has been poisoned by the jappo's https://www.aulro.com/afvb/ :wink:

[George130]

I was told that the 110 was to stay as standard and the 90 and 130 would have to be ordered specially if you wanted one. but that was 6 months ago.

[Pedro_The_Swift]

this thing goes 'round and 'round,,

I think if you are willing to pay enough,,
and the car conforms to Oz spec,
then LR will bring one over especially for YOU.

FROM WHAT I HAVE GATHERED,

you have to order a 90 and 130 now.

saw a REALLY NICE black 90 extreme on the barge yesterday,,
headlight protectors, side steps, roof spotties,



8)

[disconut]

Originally posted by TonyB
Heard on the grapevine today that LRA will soon stop importing Defenders. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Apparently they are going to concentrate their business on the Disco's RaRo's & Freeloaders.


Hope it's not true.

Tell them to read your icon. https://www.aulro.com/afvb/

Trev.

[Ace]

I would be surprised if that was true, and thats not so say it isnt. I just doubt it. Land Rover wont remove the defender from the market completely. Matt

[disconut]

They all tend to be serious work trucks up this way.
Except mine! 8O

Trev.

[JDNSW]

Originally posted by Ace
I would be surprised if that was true, and thats not so say it isnt. I just doubt it. Land Rover wont remove the defender from the market completely. Matt

But when the Discovery was introduced the Defender was dropped for several years! So it has happened, and they eventually gave in to pressure and reintroduced it.

[one_iota]

This will ultimately be a decision taken in the boardroom of the Ford Company.

A five line executive summary backed up by spread sheets, graphs and P & L statements and readings of goat's entrails delivered by "bean counters" in Powerpoint presentations. :roll:

My view is that Defender will go the way of Morgan and Lotus: Still here but no longer a Ford Product.

[LRHybrid100]

Originally posted by one_iota
A five line executive summary backed up by spread sheets, graphs and P & L statements and readings of goat's entrails delivered by "bean counters" in Powerpoint presentations. :roll:

HEY leave us bean counters alone :wink:

LRH

[TonyB]

Maybe it was just the 90 & 130 that are going.


What a shame ..... quite fancy a 90 Extreme.

[JDNSW]

Originally posted by TonyB
Maybe it was just the 90 & 130 that are going.


What a shame ..... quite fancy a 90 Extreme.

Sales of the 90 have been very poor, partly because it has never been sold here except for the last couple of years, and most Australians seem to want a larger vehicle (we carry too much stuff around I think). A pity about the 130 though, it is the only 4x4 dual cab with a full size tray and load capacity - but the penalty for that is it is too unwieldy for most people to own for private use, and I suspect sales are pretty slim as well, partly because it is pretty expensive compared to a 110.

Sales of all Defenders suffer from a lack of promotion to what should be the real market - full time rural use, i.e. farmers, miners etc., and lack of dealers (and some of the ones there are are pretty bad) At least we have a local Landrover dealer here - but they never have a Defender in stock for potential buyers to look at, let alone a demonstrator. And their staff know little if anything about Defenders and do not appear to be interested in finding out.

I see very few Defenders (or 90/110/Series) around here - there are a two or three other 110 wagons (Defender/County), one 110 dual cab, one or two cab/tray, but the most commonly seen are dual cab 130s, a surprising number of them, including several with retractable railway wheels fitted owned by the railways, and including my doctor's wife's car.

[Ben_R]

Yep, the bloke from the autoelec workshop in Karatha who works on the 130 CC that is owned by (I think Pilbara Rail) complete with those rail track adaptors, says that Pilbara Rail uses the defender because it is the only car that doesn't die with all the extra weight, GVM somewhere over 4 tonnes.

Ben CC130

[rmp]

I don't think the Defender will be dropped from Australia.

[Michael2]

Maybe if LRA stopped importing them, then someone who actually loved the vehicle would import them. They could secure military, mining, forestry, firefighting, railways ... etc contracts, as well as ordering specialist vehicles for tour operators, TV stations, Police services ... Not to mention all the extra Defenders that would be sold to private and primary industry buyers.

Imagine how many Defenders you could sell in Australia if you actually tried.

[George130]

Properly marketed you should be able to shift the 130's to the trade market. The space and load with the fuel economy would surprise a lot of the tradies out there.

[rick130]

the funny thing is only a few short years ago LRA couldn't supply enough 130 Crew Cabs, the demand was so great, (something like a 3-6 month waiting list and they were all pre-sold) as State Rail, Telstra, etc were clamouring for them, but typical LRA wouldn't back the product up when there were problems.......unlike Nissan, who basiacally re-engineered the Patrol for Telstra abuse, er use.
This was the stength of local assembly back in the JRA Morebank days, vehicles could be modded easily to suit a client or Solihull inspired shortcoming, but PAG are after the Lexus/BMW/Mercedes luxo market these days, so say ta ta Defender....... :cry:

[damo]

Originally posted by LRHybrid100+--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(LRHybrid100)</div><div class='quotemain'><!--QuoteBegin-one_iota
A five line executive summary backed up by spread sheets, graphs and P & L statements and readings of goat's entrails delivered by "bean counters" in Powerpoint presentations. :roll:

HEY leave us bean counters alone :wink:

LRH[/b][/quote]

Have you got any more of those magic beans??? :wink: