New Rumour on Series LR

Ah, sort of. It's not Series but Defenders:

TonyB

TonyB uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Yuk!

Looks like a poorly copied kids toy... I'll bet if you roll it over it's got leaf springs underneath , much the same as a Classic RR model I have.

I guess it may grow on me but it's going to take a while - The last concept

90 I saw looked much better and wasn't impossible to recreate.

Lee D

Kinda ironic really that LR are celebrating 60 years by being sold to an indian company. And thier Aniversary model is a basically standard defender with some extra shiny bits, powered by an engine that isn't anything to do with Landrover.

Alex

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I saw the article in the comics and a clip of the prototype being 'tested' total P.O.S. the tyres were far too big for the arches so the bugger was more or less impossible to turn round and looking at that photo it appears to be the same car- sad bugger I can't find the clip this is not it but interesting

the other LR concept ! Derek

Well unless it really does have leaf springs, about the only thing it has in common with my series landie is the green oval.

Larry uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Hey Larry!

Are you making the pilgrimage to Wales this year? Looks like it may be warmer than some of the past visits.

Lee D

Yeh LR seem to be Moving away from there Origins & trying to keep up with the Jones's

It Took them a Long time to catch on & make the disco 3 Commercial

skinty uttered summat worrerz funny about:

Oh come on! How many Romans do you see wandering around on charriots! Yes they worked and were basic, easy to fix but they were still Chariots at the end of the day.

I guess Landrover would like people to invest in a vehicle before turning it into a commercial.

If your money were invested in Landrover would you want them being all nostalgic or earning you the biggest bang for your buck?

Don't get me wrong, I love the series, and Defender but they (latter) are on borrowed time, lets be real.

Lee D

Mm, but you only have to look at the Santana PS-10 to see what can be done with a series based design, resulting in a vehicle that is better than the current defender in so many ways. LR's problem with the Defender started in the 80's when Leyland refused to invest doing any serious updating, which is why the Defender is still stuck in the stone ages by comparison with a lot of 4x4 vehicles. I mean, the Santana might have (parablioc) leaf springs, but at least the roof is made of one piece GRP and doesn't leak.

Alex

Alex uttered summat worrerz funny about:

I would have been around 8 when we had a Landie with a GRP roof. No idea where it came from but the Landie was an ex-military IIa SWB.

The ideal I guess would be for Santana to buy the rights to Defender and then bun in their engine along with their body on the coil sprung chassis.

Lee D

But half their selling tactics and much of their reputation are built on what they have done historically with the series and defender. Watch the news on TV and see some war somewhere or watch something about africa and you will see a landrover (series or defender).

In 5/10 years time when the military are all using something else and people doing safaris and the like are buying other makes landrover are going to loose a lot of their public exposure and you are going to see a lot less land rovers on TV. Instead of people seeing landrovers as something which would also be at home driving round a desert or through a jungle they are just going to see them as something that can drive up the kerb to drop the kids off.

Landrover don't seem to care about this and just want to make luxury vehicles. I just cant see how they can do nothing to compete with the other 'utility' 4x4s which seem to be replacing the defenders. They may make more money with the new posher stuff but it doesnt exactly promote brand loyalty and the image in the long term - which I always thought had quite a lot of 'value'. They are just becoming a 'normal' car manufacturer (though i suppose most brands are getting blander as time goes on)

The military's needs have diverged strongly from the civilian needs in recent years, even the pinzgauer is finding it harder to find roles now despite only recently (ish) having been taken on. Basically landmines and other explosive devices have meant that civvy-based vehicles can't really cut it any more.

As long as they keep the Defender around then I'm not so sure, around here, the Defender is by far the most common vehicle and I've seen a fair few new ones with the bonnet bulge. The lifestyle pickups have taken some of the market for sure but they're not really the same vehicle, they're more pickup and less off-road.

interesting. Surely there is still significant need for soft skinned transportation though?.

Are they really going to keep the defender round for long?

Here, I have never ever seen a new defender. There are a couple of old

90's, A few old discos, then some tata's and lots of shoguns and hiluxes and that kinda stuff.

Looking at the military mags (I get Military Machines regularly for the fap value) there's precious little in there that's not built to at least take landmine hits. The show reports do still list Defender variants from various companies.

No idea, I hope so, I suppose there's less need for a capable off-roader in the commercial markets these days.

Out here in Dorset, I usually spot at least 5 or so Defenders on a half-hour trip on local roads. Different areas have different strongholds it seems, presumably dealer support and terrain, although I've not come across many landy dealers or independents in my area!

In message , Lee_D writes

I'm inclined to agree with you Lee. Let's face it the basic design has been around for sixty years. Can't think of any other vehicle on the road that comes even close to that. But compared to what's now available it really has come to the end of the line. Any manufacturer has to continually look to new sales, not the spares market for old models. If Ford had retained ownership I'm sure the Defender would go in favour of the Ranger. Let's face it they manage to cope in the US without Defenders. LR showrooms are all geared to RRs, Discos and Freelanders, serviced under warranty for three years and then they are not interested. They're happy to pass the vehicles on to the independent/enthusiasts market.

er VW Beetle 1938 until 2003 -65 yrs but even the miesters had to think again after all that time, LR did sell Defenders briefly in the US I think it was collision regs that did for them in the end. I did suggest a while back that Ford would look very critically at their basket of models there is a hell of a lot of duplication within the range but the managers seem unwilling to rationalise, a part must be brand loyalty.That is dying the death in the US because of years of producing expensive poorly assembled poor fuel mileage cars the best selling passenger cars (saloon ) in the US are Toyota Camry followed by Honda Accord ,Toyota Corolla,Honda Civic,Chevrolet Impala that must hurt Ford badly the top selling suv is japanese the Honda CR-V outselling the Explorer 3 to 2 how long before Ford build Land Rovers in the US?

Dere

In message , Derek writes

Exactly the same mistake as BMC in the 60s which resulted in LR being starved of investment while all the money was wasted on Triumph/Rover/Morris/Austin/Riley/Wolsely models.

Hypothetical question - they're going to be built in India!! Ta ta Solihull :(

Totally agree but they seem to have go more fashion status

On or around Sun, 23 Dec 2007 20:47:27 -0000, "Lee_D" enlightened us thusly:

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"unveiled for the first time by Zara Phillips"

I'd rather just unveil Zara Phillips...