By DiscoReggie on Monday, October 08, 2001 - 02:58 am: Edit

We all know Land Rover was losing money like a slot machine and at one time BMW couldnt couldnt get a buyer. Being a Rover owner, I can't understand why they dont advertise the trucks. I see the Xterra and Cherokee, and GMC commercials, and even I say, maybe I should buy one of those. If you ask most people which SUV to buy very few will say Rovers.

Maybe they dont want to sell the trucks. My LR dealer doesnt kiss my ass at all. My wife's Toyota dealer is always kissing her ass. Dont we spend enough.

I love the truck but just confused with my investment comapny

By Norm Orschnorschki (Norm) on Monday, October 08, 2001 - 07:03 pm: Edit

You gotta wonder about Land Rover. Sometimes I think they're just plain lazy. They know the serious off-roaders will buy their product for excellent performance in spite of electrical gremlins and lousy service and the soccer mom/mall crawler set will buy them for prestige, inspite of electrical gremlins and lousy service. I guess the top brass at LR realizes they can sell just enough vehicles to make the company profitable and insure tidy bonuses without much effort, so why bother?

You gotta wonder about them discontinuing the Defender in the US because they were too damned lazy to install air bags -- especially when a used 90 fetches $30K and a 110 (which is what I REALLY wanted to begin with) brings as much as $60K. They're not worth it to me at these prices, especially with good used Unimogs available for well under $10K. But think of how many NEW Defender 110s they could have sold for just under $30K. You can't tell me that the profit margins on a Defender 110 are any lower than a Disco.

I guess the only way LR will move off their butts is through competition. It remains to be seen what the Hummer 2 will be like, but the Mercedes G-Wagen is going to be SERIOUS competition for the Range Rover. The Freelander is not a real Land Rover, IMHO.

Let's hope Ford can get them in gear. At least they're putting the 4.6 in all Discos and RRs next year and the Defender is coming back in a couple of years -- maybe with a turbo diesel option? Let's just hope they don't try to turn it into a Jeep Liberty.

By jwooten on Tuesday, October 09, 2001 - 10:11 pm: Edit

This is a dilemma. I want to see Rover do well enough to stay in business, but at the same time I enjoy driving a car that is unique and different. I would hate to see the streets crawling with them the way it does with Jeeps and Exploders. That's one of the reasons I bought my Rover. I am not looking forward to the day Rovers become 'mass marketed'.

By Al on Wednesday, October 10, 2001 - 11:44 pm: Edit

Hi guys

I don't mean to cause any offence here, but Land Rover really aren't an American brand. They never will be a massive seller in the North American market, simply because it's not a Jeep or GM, doesn't appeal to every day Joes and doesn't have a 5.7L V8!

The Land Rover is a world vehicle. Think how many Defenders are running around in the world's armed forces, the UN and thoughout Australia, Europe and Africa. Competition isn't steep - you build a strong product, these places buy it.

LR were never "too lazy" to install air bags in the Defender - the US is the only market requiring these by law. Why change factory setups just to accomodate the few Defenders the US might buy, when you can keep building them the way they've been building them for 50 years and still sell them all to the rest of the world?

Defenders in the US are only worth so much because of supply and demand. Demand is high because there is bugger all to purchase, and you can't bring them in privately. Once the demand is satisfied, be prepared for a dramatic drop in price. Defenders in Australia aren't particularly expensive - they're half the price new of a 78 Series Land Cruiser!

BTW, no more petrol defenders. If they ever do bring them into the US again, you'll be getting the TD5, which is very popular in Defender and Discovery 4x4's, esp. in Australia and Europe.
However, your current emission laws (and because the general US population prefers thumping V8's) strongly oppose diesel engines.

Hope this clears the air!

You're right though - LR are a small English factory and don't actively pursue sales like Ford/GM do.

By arttsai on Thursday, October 11, 2001 - 02:02 am: Edit

I think Ford is determined to make lr profitable in three(??) years. Even if lr sales increase, it probably still won't be branded a "mass market" product. Beside, what's so bad about LR selling more trucks and make some $$? It's not they hand-build everything and it takes 6 months just to deliever a truck, or else there wouldn't be issues like quality--which seems to scare away many potential buyers... I'm interest to see TD5 make its way stateside.