Defenders to be Built in New Delhi

**Lotz-A-Landies** · 20th August 2008, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by D3Jon

Wasn't there some involvement of the British Government in the Ford / Tata deal though? They were obviously interested in UK job retention and I'm sure I read somewhere that there are clauses in the deal to this effect. Shipping production (or as Diana wisely speculates, assembly) to India may violate this agreement. Did anybody else read this or was I dreaming!

...

Yes there was UK Government involvement in the deal but that agreement was time limited over 3 years I seem to remember. I would also suggest that so long as the gross numbers employed in the UK remain somewhere near the current level then Tata would have maintained their agreement. If Tata were to expand production by exporting some assembly or component manufacture to India they would still be in compliance and after all Land Rover has a long history of having assembly and manufacturing plants throughout the world, namely: Spain; South Africa; Iran; Australia and India at various times.

Originally Posted by D3Jon

...
That might be true of the "older" LR products, but it certainly isn't the case with the newer cars such as the Discovery 3 or RRS, that were designed and built under Ford leadership and more importantly to Ford's quality control process.

I presume the facelifted Defender must have also improved? But I think the gaps around doors / leaks is attributable to being based on a 50 odd year old design!! Before you hang me out here, I have an Isuzu 110 with gaps, leaks, noises, etc, and I love it to bits and would never sell it.

RR sport the current RR Vogue and the D3 certainly have made a remarkable turn around in reliability and build quality under Ford leadership. However when we consider the problems that CapeLandy has with their December 2007 Defender not having the sealing installed between the roof and the side panels; Dullbird's water contaminated fuel problems and the 2008 Defender recently at Trivett's in Paramatta where you could see daylight (actually reflected light as it was night-time) through the passengers door, then the build quality for Defender under Ford hasn't changed. A 50 year old design is no excuse when the seals are either not fitted or fitted incorrectly.

Diana

**clean32** · 20th August 2008, 05:22 PM

the best thing every for LR is Tata, the upperclass Indian's are more british than the british.

Last year Moscow motor show, 40% of the parts supplyers were from india.
and 20% of the cars were from China.
as for china or india not being able to produce a quallity product? thats rubbish, in Aussie we doint get to see any thing realy that comes out of eather country. who produces a car? that will start in - 50 deg or + 50 deg? just have a guess?

**defmec** · 20th August 2008, 05:31 PM

i heard a rumor that tata are also looking at buying jeep

**Mick-Kelly** · 20th August 2008, 06:27 PM

Tata will be a blessing for the Defender, might even turn it back into a utility vehicle. If Defender goes back to its design, imagine it. A genuine basic utility vehicle that can be customized any way you want it. New military variants etc. etc. Might extend its lifetime by a few more decades unlike the current excuses to kill it off. Back to a simpler engine and transmission too. Heres hoping for the future.

**numpty** · 20th August 2008, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by Mick-Kelly

Tata will be a blessing for the Defender, might even turn it back into a utility vehicle. If Defender goes back to its design, imagine it. A genuine basic utility vehicle that can be customized any way you want it. New military variants etc. etc. Might extend its lifetime by a few more decades unlike the current excuses to kill it off. Back to a simpler engine and transmission too. Heres hoping for the future.

You don't give up do you Mick

No matter what happens, a simpler design engine will never get through our current or any newly implemented ADR's.

Just resign yourself to the fact that you will never own a modern Land Rover product.

**Mick-Kelly** · 20th August 2008, 07:43 PM

I am already resigned, i am having enough trouble trying to own an old landrover product

**p38arover** · 20th August 2008, 08:01 PM

Originally Posted by Bushwanderer

Sorry Guys,
But I think this discussion with Tombie is OT.

If you need to pursue it (although, personally, I don't see the point) I suggest you conduct it by PM.

For myself, I'm glad Tombie is here.

Best Wishes,

You are over 4 months late with that comment!

**TimNZ** · 20th August 2008, 08:05 PM

If you had the money you could always do this:

New Rover

Tim

**one_iota** · 20th August 2008, 08:29 PM

Originally Posted by TimNZ

If you had the money you could always do this:

New Rover

Tim

I was wondering if you can still get these:

**TimNZ** · 20th August 2008, 08:39 PM

Originally Posted by one_iota

I was wondering if you can still get these:

Ha!

Thread: Defenders to be Built in New Delhi

Thread Tools

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions