New Land Rover Defender
Plan
Land Rover Defender to replace the ancient with the new super-rugged,
relatively basic off-roader has been canceled, according to sources
close to the company.
Outline plans to build a new model in India, perhaps in addition to Tata SUV-related, have also been dropped. Further consequences of the move surprising is that the planned JLR engine plant in India has also been put on ice.
Although the Defender replacement is currently in the works, John Edwards, Land Rover global brand director, was quoted as saying new Defender will not go into production in 2015 as originally envisioned. The Defender is still going to retire in 2015, however, in part because of the impossibility of compliance with the regulation in the future.
It is estimated that the latest plans for the new Defender, the course three years, is to create products that are premium-level and build on the new version, all-aluminum architecture JLR's PLA.Land Rover aluminum body shop can now handle 95,000 vehicles per year in three shifts, but there is no room for expansion to 180,000 units. However, Land Rover has started working on an extension of the body shop, indicating they expect to hold more than four models based PLA platform.The result is that it is very likely that the new Defender 'premium' will be a sister car the next generation flagship model of the range extended discovery (see p10), with the second version of the model based on a new, slightly smaller than the PLA architecture.Sources said the Land Rover confident of being able to buy aluminum at a very competitive price of a new joint venture in Saudi Arabia. This, and the price premium, meaning building cars in the UK will be cost-competitive.
Outline plans to build a new model in India, perhaps in addition to Tata SUV-related, have also been dropped. Further consequences of the move surprising is that the planned JLR engine plant in India has also been put on ice.
Although the Defender replacement is currently in the works, John Edwards, Land Rover global brand director, was quoted as saying new Defender will not go into production in 2015 as originally envisioned. The Defender is still going to retire in 2015, however, in part because of the impossibility of compliance with the regulation in the future.
It is estimated that the latest plans for the new Defender, the course three years, is to create products that are premium-level and build on the new version, all-aluminum architecture JLR's PLA.Land Rover aluminum body shop can now handle 95,000 vehicles per year in three shifts, but there is no room for expansion to 180,000 units. However, Land Rover has started working on an extension of the body shop, indicating they expect to hold more than four models based PLA platform.The result is that it is very likely that the new Defender 'premium' will be a sister car the next generation flagship model of the range extended discovery (see p10), with the second version of the model based on a new, slightly smaller than the PLA architecture.Sources said the Land Rover confident of being able to buy aluminum at a very competitive price of a new joint venture in Saudi Arabia. This, and the price premium, meaning building cars in the UK will be cost-competitive.
Company
understands that the decision to shake up plans to replace the Defender
has requested, at least in part, by the fact that the health of the
automotive division of parent company Tata questionable. After
suffering humiliation by the super budget Nano sales, the company also
has seen new Aria massive SUV sales undershoot expectations.
New car sales in India have gone into freefall in the last six months. Without Tata Motors sales made significant advances, each planned collaboration with Jaguar Land Rover Defender on back-to-basics is not financially viable
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