I must preface this post with an aside: Land Rover Monthly might be the best bathroom reading publication ever printed. The articles are an ideal length for the amount of time one needs to spend on the throne and there are always the ads/new products/classifieds if one requires more or less reading material.
One of the regular columnists in a recent issue of LRM claimed to have super top secret insider info: after new EU laws take effect (in 2016?) making the current Defender noncompliant with automobile regulations, Tata is going to pack up the entire assembly line and move it to India. Whatever LR makes to replace the Defender will be manufactured in England and Tata will continue to produce the current Defender (no more 90, just 110 and 130) for those countries that will allow it. Supposedly the 300Tdi will be resurrected to power the Indian Land Rovers.
If this comes to pass it would be comforting to know the Defender will still exist, but perhaps what's more appealing is the possibility of getting your hands on brand new TDI engines. Although it could just as equally be a mess. I can't imagine Indians can build Land Rovers any worse than the Brits, so with appropriate expectations customers may be spared from disappointment.
One of the regular columnists in a recent issue of LRM claimed to have super top secret insider info: after new EU laws take effect (in 2016?) making the current Defender noncompliant with automobile regulations, Tata is going to pack up the entire assembly line and move it to India. Whatever LR makes to replace the Defender will be manufactured in England and Tata will continue to produce the current Defender (no more 90, just 110 and 130) for those countries that will allow it. Supposedly the 300Tdi will be resurrected to power the Indian Land Rovers.
If this comes to pass it would be comforting to know the Defender will still exist, but perhaps what's more appealing is the possibility of getting your hands on brand new TDI engines. Although it could just as equally be a mess. I can't imagine Indians can build Land Rovers any worse than the Brits, so with appropriate expectations customers may be spared from disappointment.
