Thread: New Defender up on LRA website!

Originally Posted by PAT303

Twenty thousand is nothing.VW make 450 Golfs a day.Do the math. Pat

But Germans only work 2 days a week

The point I was making is the Defender is a labour intensive,that is there is alot of hand fitting,because of this they need to re-design it to make it more ''assembly line'' compatable.To do this they need to spend big dollars which they don't want to do as the other models earn more.The defender is in a catch 22.I'm not making this up,It was straight from LR.Hundreds of millions sounds like alot in sales but take out the cost of running the factory,wages,material etc and it doesn't go far. The defender is my favourate landy but wether it survives or not we will see. Pat

But imagine the stink if they put those 700 people out of work.

Originally Posted by PAT303

I was told off the record by a salesman that LR don't want the work market they want the high end FL2,D3,RR market.That is why there is no dealers in the bush. Pat

I think that was obvious a long time ago!

John

Originally Posted by PAT303
I was told off the record by a salesman that LR don't want the work market they want the high end FL2,D3,RR market.That is why there is no dealers in the bush. Pat

I reckon all manufacturers want out of the bush, why would Toyota put a complex V8 TDI in their lastest Cruiser?-do you think it'd be easy to work on at some station miles from nowhere?, and of course without airbags, which have or are about to become mandatory for all vehicles involved in mining etc.......there's nothing in it for them, the vehicles are abused, wrecked, look like sht, and have warranty claims galore, why would you want that kind of feedback?.

'High end' is much easier, don't have to put up with bulk buys eating your profits, dealing with individuals-so you can tell them to go jump-when they claim a warranty issue, the cars present well-nice and clean, dropping the kids off at school and not as many absolutely flogged vehicles returning back from a lease arrangement......they've checked it all out, and are going where the smart money is....don't you guys notice the lack of interest when you walk into a Landrover dealers spare parts counter............

The lack of airbags is a another nail in it's coffin as they aren't going to the US because of it.That last post had alot of good points in it.We have a new cruiser at work and it is not bush friendly. Pat

I've just sent an email off to LR Australia,asking why the NZérs get the cold comfort selection and we dont....
Its not as if there isnt any COOLLLDDDD places here in oz(Blayney,Oberon-NSw--Tassie,High country in vic)

Originally Posted by PAT303

The point I was making is the Defender is a labour intensive,that is there is alot of hand fitting,because of this they need to re-design it to make it more ''assembly line'' compatable.To do this they need to spend big dollars which they don't want to do as the other models earn more.The defender is in a catch 22.I'm not making this up,It was straight from LR.Hundreds of millions sounds like alot in sales but take out the cost of running the factory,wages,material etc and it doesn't go far. The defender is my favourate landy but wether it survives or not we will see. Pat

Yes, I was told the exact same thing by a LR-UK insider...

Manual handling/assembly etc.. makes the defender the most expensive to build and least profitable....

It only cost LR-UK around 12k to build a top of the line HSE Rangie.... But more than that for a Defender...