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Hi all

Sadly I can't afford to drive a Land Rover :( but am lucky enough to work for them!

I work for Wunderman, who do marketing for Land Rover UK, and we want to provide LR enthusiasts like yourselves with great content, the chance to win cool Landy-related stuff... and also to find out what you think about the brand and its vehicles.

I'm going to get stuck into the forum and start posting photos, videos and links to things you might find interesting - I just thought I'd introduce myself first!

Cheers

James

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Welcome to the forum smile.gif

If we're ordering, I'll take an Ice 110, and a TDV8 sport wink.gif

Ross, Have you asked your mum if you can have them first? what have you been told about talking to strangers...?

ohmy.gif

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Give the chap a break. I used to know a chap who worked for Land Rover vehicle development and he said the biggest problem with the job was nobody with a Land Rover believed him!

If Land Rover are taking an interest in what the users think - it's nothing but a good thing.

For my part, I hope that Land Rover realise the importance of the Defender to their image. Not everyone wants to drive one (I do!) but it underpins the image of everything else.

I hope that the next generation Defender will have as much effort put in to it as the transition from Series vehicles - and like that transition keep a design which is recognisable as a Defender whilst adopting more modern manufacturing techniques and vehicle technology. Most of the changes recently, in particular the Puma have just been tinkering and look half-hearted. "lets make a new model but spend the absolute minimum on development re-tooling"

If Land Rover could manage the same kind of make-over as the New Mini, Fiat 500 and VW Beetle to bring it into the 21st century - I think they could enjoy the same success.

Si

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Si Sorry mate, I'm as I suppose a lot of other people are-suspicious when they see things like what LandroverUK has posted And for that I can only apologise to them It was uncalled for on my part, Lets see if they come back and see what they have to say

John

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You make some interesting points Si - especially this:

If Land Rover could manage the same kind of make-over as the New Mini, Fiat 500 and VW Beetle to bring it into the 21st century - I think they could enjoy the same success.

Si

Of course I couldn't possibly comment on the brand's two wheel drive models (sorry Top90!), but yes, Land Rover are looking to the future.

Apologies if that sounds cheesy, but I am a marketing person after all ;)

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I stand by every word of what I have said ans I have a history of being proved right.

in the same vein if I am wrong I'll say so.

but a member who works for a marketing company then want to be called Landroveruk on here is to suspicious as such the name change has not been allowed.

as it would mislead people.

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Of course I couldn't possibly comment on the brand's two wheel drive models (sorry Top90!), but yes, Land Rover are looking to the future.

To be honest, many people driving a Freelander, RRS or L322 don't actually NEED the 4x4. For the latter, many are driving it for the image and status. I think there is a market for a 2 wheel drive version so you can have the image without the fuel consumption - if that's your thing!

If I were specifying it, I would make 4x4 only available as a plug-in Hybrid. The IC Engine would drive the rear wheels and the electric the front. Not only does that give you low emissions and high combined power but you can dynamically balance the power delivery between the front & rear for improved handling & traction control - which would appeal in a vehicle like that.

Being able to balance the power delivery gives you all kinds of interesting possibilities on and off road - in particular being able to recover from under or over steer automatically. Combined with accelerometers plus pitch, roll & yaw sensors - you could build a traction control system which allows it to drive absolutely on the limit of the traction available - and then when you loose traction, use the under and oversteer to point the vehicle where the steering wheel is pointing!

I would also incorporate electric free-wheeling hubs on all four wheels so when operating on electric or fuel, the drag from the other axle is minimised.

Obviously with my Electric Freelander - I have a little bias towards electric & hybrid drive - but I think plug-in hybrid is the way to go. My next electric vehicle will probably be a RRS with the above configuration. With a 20 mile plug-in electric range, for me, it would give a combined fuel economy of about 140mpg (and is tax exempt!).

Si

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updating the Defender is a biggie and needs to be done right.

I'm a bit old fashioned and think if it aint broke...

I saw an image of what the new Defender could look like in one of the Landy mags this month and thought to myself that if that's what it will look like, I'd rather LR just stop making the Defender :rolleyes:

But you are right, if the Defender is to be updated, it needs to be done right. I just hope they don't change it too much :lol:

edit: Welcome to the forum by the way Wunderman!

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I stand by every word of what I have said ans I have a history of being proved right.

in the same vein if I am wrong I'll say so.

but a member who works for a marketing company then want to be called Landroveruk on here is to suspicious as such the name change has not been allowed.

as it would mislead people.

Hi, I'm now known as Wunderman - after the marketing agency I work for.

The last thing I want to do is to mislead people, which is why I've been upfront about who I am and what I'm doing.

I'm going to work with the forum's moderators to get their approval of everything I do here, and of course I'll work within the rules.

Cheers

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Every year or so for the last ten years the comics have been publishing design sketches, mock-ups and other concept rubbish touted as the next defender, none of it has ever come true. LR may claim the Defender costs more to build than the RR, but it costs them about 50p in development. Look at the new one, they've just stuck a Fiesta dashboard and a Transit engine in to keep their previous owners happy & pass emissions and didn't even get that right.

I also wonder exactly what a marketing company has to do with the engineering of the vehicles - are you here to PR the range or to do market research for future vehicles?

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Hi, I'm now known as Wunderman - after the marketing agency I work for.

The last thing I want to do is to mislead people, which is why I've been upfront about who I am and what I'm doing.

I'm going to work with the forum's moderators to get their approval of everything I do here, and of course I'll work within the rules.

Cheers

Indeed but that doesn't mean you have our approval just that you are staying within the rules

this place is independently funded would you care to contribute to the costs?

this also gives you no leeway but may make us think you are here not for what you can get.

I see identical posts on LRO so I still will wait and see.

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Its interesting, the latest range rover and discovery models seem to marketed on their diverse mixture off road capability and luxury comfort, however it appears to me that the majority of the consumer base seem to buy these vehicles based on their luxury alone, I very rarely see them off road, which doesn't surprise me as their repair costs for a few battle scars would be astronomical and very few disco 3/4 or new RR owners want to risk damaging their vehicles luxury appearance.

Understandably the latest range rovers and discoveries seem to be doing relatively well in sales because of the buoyancy of this luxury market, which is great because it keeps the company afloat and able to continue to produce a more functional vehicle like the defender!:) BUT if the defender is to be updated I think it would be a sin for it to follow the tracks of the other land rover vehicles and lose its off road appeal, as land rover themselves put it, the defender is an icon, so they must think very carefully about its redesign, if it appears on the market in a few years time with design orientated towards visual appearance and luxury it would be a great shame. I hope the next vehicle is a capable off road vehicle that does not rely on electronics for off road ability but instead good design and decent driving!

I agree with one of the comments above, I am forever seeing these concept vehicles appear claiming to be the next defender and they are just terrible, I really hope land rover remember what it was that made the first vehicle they produced to special.

Rant Over! :)

I hope that the opinions on here will give your marketing team an insight as to what genuine all round land rover owners think :)

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Indeed but that doesn't mean you have our approval just that you are staying within the rules

this place is independently funded would you care to contribute to the costs?

this also gives you no leeway but may make us think you are here not for what you can get.

I see identical posts on LRO so I still will wait and see.

Jeez Tony, chill out! The guy has been up-front enough from the get go, identical posts on other forums is surely entirely reasonable if the guy's been given the job of joining as many forums as he can & canvassing LR owners would you write a special personalised introduction to everyone each time?

I am still interested to know if this is "how do we market the current range on new media" or "what do people want LR to do with new models".

Frankly, if it's the 1st then he's probably barking up the wrong horse anyway - LR enthusiasts are very rarely the ones who buy new from the showroom. I'm sure the powder-fueled black turtle neck brigade at the ad agency have decided that everything has to be twittered, facebooked and whatever else across as much internet as possible, becaue all the cool kids are doing it, but could anyone round here really give a t*ss?

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I am still interested to know if this is "how do we market the current range on new media" or "what do people want LR to do with new models".

If its the first I don't care I don't want to buy any of them. If its the second, make them simple, durable, great offroad without electrickery (have electrickery as an option) with very basic spec versions at a reasonable cost. New Defender is the most crucial thing LR has ever done, the new Mini is a good case in point designwise and in how it makes you feel. I always said I would never have a 'new' car but as a life long Mini fan one drive in a new Cooper was enough to have us signing on the bottom line. I'd like to see the new Defender go back to a central dash like the Series 2 (and the Mini), massive tooling savings I'd think for whole world use and It could put all the vehicle electrickery high up, away from water and in one place. The other issue I'd mention is headlights, these pocketed clever HID headlights are fine for roads but when you spend you days nudging hesitant cows up a lane for a living you'll soon get tired of forking out £100s on headlights.

Will :)

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