|>> R. David Steele wrote: |>>> Why can't the US get Defender 90s, 110s and 130s? |>>
|>> The main problem is that LR and Ford's marketing dept have trouble |>> seeing where they wouls fit in to the US market. They would be |>> smaller than many US pick-ups but would be more expensive to buy. |>> They do not have the comfort and luxury of a typical US pick-up and |>> most of the market demands this. The sheer utility of a Defender and |>> the off-road ability would of course be superior to most pick-ups |>> but perhaps still not create a large enough market to make them |>> viable. LR continually say the no longer sell Defenders in the US |>> because of emmissions and passenger airbag issues - this of course |>> is nonsense as they sell thousands of Discoverys with exactly the |>> same engine and emmissions and fitting a passenger airbag is not |>> beyond the engineering wit of Lode Lane either. On the upside, the |>> US will definitely get the new Defender based on the T5 chassis in a |>> few years, so you'll have to hang on. |>
|> Word was that we were going to get the TD6, not the TD5. And you |> forget that we have a midsize and compact size pickup market. |> All most all the big trucks have smaller brothers. |>
|I realise that, but the market for a Defender in the US that is the same |size as the smaller pick-ups but costs more than the full-size ones is still |thought to be very limited by LR. Maybe they are wrong. The TD6 is also too |expensive to fit to Defenders and has already been dropped by Ford as it is |a BMW engine and they don't like buying outside. You should however get the |new Ford-Peugeot 2.7 V6 diesel jointly developed for the new Discovery which |has 200bhp and 300lb-ft of torque. | |>>>
|>>> Why can't we have diesel powered Landies? |>>>
|>> The two biggest problems are that US diesel is very porr quality |>> with a high sulfur content and modern high-tech turbo-diesels won't |>> swallow it. The other problem is that petrol is cheap and there in |>> very little diesel-car culture in the states yet. It would however |>> be great to drive a 30mpg TD5 in the states so you can tell all the |>> tree-huggers who think you drive a gas-guzzling SUV to piss off! :) |>
|> We have low sulfur diesel now. I have a VW Jette TDI back in the |> states. In fact the US environmental laws are far more harsh |> than anything in Europe. |>
|They can't be that harsh judging by the the numbers of people I see over |there driving round in 6.8 litre V10 petrol motors! I think petrol will need |to get a lot more expensive than it is now before a real market for diesels |in anything but large pick-ups will develop properly, rather than just a |niche.
Too many gear heads into performance vehicles among US automotive engineers. That is the real problem.
We do have a large diesel market, truck based. And people are now wanting diesels in the smaller pickups. They also want a pickup that is tough. Most US pickups will not take the abuse that the LD Defender will take. Besides we have too many Toyota pickups anyway.
|> BTW, Jeep is suppose to sell the Liberty with the Mercedes Common |> Rail Diesel but that not yet happened. |>
|There are no technical reasons why you should not have a big choice of |diesels - it's the marketing departments of the motor manufacturers who |don't believe the market exists or you would already have them. | |>>> And why doesn't the US military use the Defender as a basic, and |>>> cheaper, vehicle for the average troops? |>>
|>> Politically, it is very difficult for the US to procure non-domestic |>> military kit. Even when the US military decided they must have |>> British Harriers, the top brass had to lie to congress and leap |>> through all sorts of hoops to make them look American before they |>> could purchase them. Same thing with the British Chobham armour used |>> on all abrams tanks. The US Rangers bought some special Defenders |>> called RSOV but I doubt they will ever figure very highly. |>
|> LD is now part of Ford Motor Company, just as Jeep is now part of |> Mercedes. | |Perception is reality I'm afraid. People see LR and think English. Maybe |when the POTUS swaps his limo for a Jag your army will get LR's, but I |wouldn't hold my breath! :)
when I tell the local cops about how British bobbies drive the Jag XJ8, they are ready to swap their Crown Vics in for the XJ8. Now there would be a sales tool! US folks do like to buy what the coppers drive.