Thread: A Different View on the Decline of Landrover

you've certainly got an interesting point there JD, one view I have come to is that all pommie industry in that time frame (eg aviation, shipbuilding, mining etc) was sabotaged both by the workers and their government...

the workers thought they were damaging only the bosses and their government couldn't stand having standout performers who didn't support them

but maybe that's a bit harsh..........

............but it seems to be happening again, right now

I think its a valid point John but during the 70's and in to the 80's there was a complete decline of a lot of European cars and other goods in Australia. It wasn't limited just to Land Rover.

There are some valid points in the above and some ignored ones. Yes UK was joining the EEC and that changed market preferences, at least for the Britts, however the WWII generation were by now in their 40s and 50s and looking towards retirement and the price of cars was becoming more important than the fact that we fought them Japs in the war mentality. What was becoming obvious was that the Japanese were very responsive to the market where the Brits (and for that matter the rest of Europe) were happy to market what ever they thought the market should have. It was only in the late 70s when effect on the market that Japanese cars and 4WD were having, that firstly the Yanks, followed by Europe with the Brits dragging the chain decided to respond.

Whether it was the Government of Britain, or the bosses of the auto industry not investing in expanded plant or it was the unions fault is irrelevant, by the time that British automotive industry started the first twinkling or being responsive to the market is was almost on it's last gasp. It has been the moribund comatose ventilated patient in the corner of the automotive world ever since and will continue like that untill someone decides out of mercy to switch the patient off!

Interesting point, and it certainly contributed to the fact. But, as pointed out, there were more factors involved, such as the decline of the British industry as such (not only automotive) and the rise of the Japanese equivalent. Globally, that is. Europe has never been a major market for LR products until the Range Rover finally kicked off and really only after introduction of the Discovery.

Weren't the Australian Land Rovers actually made here in an Australian factory?(or was it just assembled?) I thought i read that somewhere. If that is so would your scenario make a great deal of difference?

In the case of Leyland, I have first hand knowledge. They suffered from a bad case of paternalism towards "Colonials". Quite simply put, they regarded us as not knowing what we were about. "Father knows best". Despite warnings and pleadings from Oz their management refused to produce designs or alterations that the customers required. We wanted more engine in Land Rovers to give a comfortable cruising speed at 60+mph. We wanted the transmission and driveline strengthened. We wanted decent seats. As to their trucks, how about this example. Australia warned that their declining market would vanish unless they produced vehicles that had, or could compete with, the North American powertrains, used by White, Kenworth, Mack, IHC etc. We asked for a 400 horsepower prime mover that could cruise at 60-70 mph at a gross of 45 tons, tare 7.5 - 8 tons. We also said we need it now not in ten years. The reply was that no-one needed a 400 hp prime mover, this would be quite excessive.

Albion Lorries Ltd were taken over by Leyland and until "Leylandised" were good to deal with. They accepted that funny things happened to their product out in the colonies and with Scottish practicality would do what they could. Over the border inLancashire the attitude was quite the opposite. "Can't duplicate the failure at the proving grounds" was a regular reply. Truck & Bus Australia were accused of lodging false warranty claims over the Range Rover gearboxes, but, lo and behold, a couple of years later a "modification" was issued which was the same as we had been doing to fix the problem. The nasty bit about this was that this was not to be done unless a customer presented a vehicle with the problem. We ignored this and had every RR owner that had not already been fixed bring in their vehicle.

They had some basically good products that would not have needed much to suit market demands and some they persisted with that should have been scrapped years if not decades earlier, or never sold outside the offshore islands of Europe.