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Maybe Not The End For Defender


need4speed

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Apologies if this has been covered somewhere and I haven't noticed...

Was in my local LR dealers today picking up some bits and pieces. While I was standing waiting on the parts guy returning I overheard parts of a conversation between either 2 of the salesmen, or 1 salesman and a customer.

I was right on the edge of audible range but could have swore I heard the LR salesman mention Defender (in its current guise) production moving to India. And no, he wasn't talking about the replacement, he was definately referring to the Defender we know and love..

Hmmmmmmm

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Speculation. Nothing more.

Lets face it, dealers are franchises and the people who work at them do not work for Land Rover and are not really likely to know a huge amount more than Jo Public does about what might, or might not happen.

For years and years there has been talk about the Defender being built and sold elsewhere in maybe "3rd world" locations. As it is common with other vehicles to have done so, e.g. lots of old Fords, GM's, VW's and many others are still built and sold in South America, Asia or other places, even though the model long since departed the "western markets".

If there is scope to continue making money selling the Defender, then yes it is likely it may either have production shipped abroad, although not likely to supply the UK market. Or the tooling/designs might be sold off completely. Or it might just be wound downand no more seen. e.g. is the classic Mini or the classic Range Rover built anywhere these days?

Really only time will tell. :)

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I understand what you mean but it would make sense in a lot of ways. Not least for the fact that they sell as quickly as they're made.

Because of construction methods JLR feel there isn't enough profit to be had here in UK. But if production was moved to a country where wages are peanut money, that might put a different slant on it....

Probably wishful thinking on my part.

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It was in the news a few weeks ago, it is moving, but won't be able to be sold over here in mass numbers due to emissions and safety requirements.

I would expect you could import one and stick it through an IVA though ;)

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It would make sense to move the tooling and production line over as its a labour intensive line and thats something india can offer. It's certainly not beyond tata, after all they were at one time looking into moving the entire s****horpe steelworks over. I think toyota still make a basic diesel engine for Africa where they don't need to worry about dpfs etc.

Think of it as a good thing, even if they can't bring cars in they can still bring parts in. So long as they can manage the raw materials and production staff there is no reason they will be of any lower quality.

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Having been a dealer and importer for many years I can confirm that you are told sweet f all and read about new releases via leaks and spy photos in the motoring press the same as everybody else!

I presume the logic is that the dealership network is so big that somebody will immediately sell the story to a magazine, so they solve the problem by not telling anybody.

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Think of it as a good thing, even if they can't bring cars in they can still bring parts in. So long as they can manage the raw materials and production staff there is no reason they will be of any lower quality.

Parts are completely different. Most car makers don't supply or directly manufacture parts. Hence why they too can suffer delays sometimes.

I don't know who does the LR parts these days, but it was Unipart, then Caterpillar... but not Rover or Land Rover.

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What parts did/do Caterpillar make for JLR?

never heard Cat mentioned in connection with the green oval before

cheers

Steveb

Caterpillar own the massive parts warehouse where the components are delivered from outside suppliers as a J.I.T service [Just In Time] so LR do not have to hold massive amounts of stock, just enough for the production to run smoothly.

CATERPILLAR LOGISTICS SERVICES

Caterpillar Logistics Services

Peckleton Lane, Desford

Leicestershire, LE9 9JT

Tel: 01455 825800

For more than 80 years, Caterpillar has designed and implemented the world-class supply chain solutions that have helped make it the company it is today. Caterpillar Logistics Services was established in 1987 to bring the same supply chain know-how to other companies and decision makers.

Today, Cat Logistics provides fully integrated supply chain solutions incorporating information technology, warehouse management, transportation management, inventory management and product support. Cat Logistics have operations based in Leicester, Peterborough, Peterlee and Larne, Northern Ireland.

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IIRC. Caterpillar own the massive parts warehouse where the components are delivered from outside suppliers as a J.I.T service [Just In Time] so LR do not have to hold massive amounts of stock, just enough for the production to run smoothly.

I went on the factory tour in Jan. A couple of interesting facts:

  • They only have enough space to hold parts to construct vehicles for 2-3 days
  • There are around 1000 lorry deliveries a day
  • The body panels are made on site
  • 2000 of the people on site are DHL employees doing all the logistics

Caterpillar probably makes LR clothing :D

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ta Ralph , didn't know Cat were so into supply Hub systems , more the sort of thing I'd associate with UPS or Stobbart , I'd imagine the stock in the entire supply chain would only amount to less than 2 weeks in todays production world

Steveb

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Caterpillars involvement is in spare parts supply , as they were considered the best system worldwide. The parts makers for landrover deliver some of their product direct to Caterpillar at Desford , who do the dispatch . They dont do the supply to the build plant at Solihull . HTSH

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I confirm Cat did the logistics at one point. They were absolutely #kin useless for export dealers - no common sense at all. When they took over from Unipart there was a sigh of relief and everybody said "well it can't get any worse". How wrong you can be. Thankfully no longer my problem! I don't know who does it now.

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What parts did/do Caterpillar make for JLR?

never heard Cat mentioned in connection with the green oval before

cheers

Steveb

They did all the parts supply, not sure if they still do. Many years ago, my local Rover/LR dealership, their parts counter was a Unipart counter (Unipart did the parts then).

But it's about supply more so than manufacture. Although this probably varies from company to company to model to model.

E.g. the L322 uses a lot of BMW parts (the early ones at least). But Land Rover wouldn't have built these parts, they would just be shipped to LR for final assembly. But the principle is no different for any part.

But as I say it depends, Morgan for example have machine shops on site and they manufacture a lot. All the nuts and bolts used on the cars are made by Morgan. I think McLaren does similar too.

But LR probably just buy in nuts and bolts from a 3rd party supplier. Who in turn might only distribute something that don't make themselves either.

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A lot of companies in the Midlands make plastic bits for JLR, I know this is as mould makers I use also make for these companies so I sometimes get to see the moulds being made / repaired. If the defender is still to be made somewhere in the world these parts will still have to be made somewhere in the world meaning 'we' will still have a chance of supply. If production stops completely there will be less encouragement for these companies to keep making parts. They'll either stop or want more per part to do smaller runs. It'll come down to companies like Rimmers to keep supply up. Obviously there are lots of parts that are available from alternative sources already so I'm sure they'll carry on.

Just my way of looking at it anyway :)

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