It seems the uncertainty over the future of diesel sales is hurting Land Rover.

I do wonder if the opening of JLR manufacturing in other countries may be causing a bit of over-capacity, as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42779699 FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

what with Diesel on the decline ............. JLR will be shipping Auto variants only soon

Look at the BIGGER picture ......... JLR ....are !!

.

The big issue at the moment is uncertainty over the future of diesel cars, this includes cities banning them, parking costs going up for residential permits and any other duty they can think of to price diesel cars off the road. Until this scaremongering is knocked on the head then turbulent times lay ahead for all manufacturers. They really need to get out there and spend some of their advertising/marketing budget on showing people just how far diesel technology has come. Another issue is the cost of buying a Land Rover these days, for a lot of people looking to replace an older model it's difficult to find a Land Rover these days that fits within their budget. With so many manufacturers producing SUV's cheaper and with more options as standard it's easy to see why sales of these have been on the rise. Most Land Rover owners never have a need for 4 wheel drive so can move over to a 2 wheel drive SUV with no issues. Personally I'd like to see a more competitive pricing structure from Land Rover to keep sales going but it's moved into the "premium" brand market so the likes of Joe Bloggs who have been loyal to the brand for many years now find themselves only able to peer through the window of the dealership rather than being able to go inside and make a purchase. I recently looked at a Discovery Sport that would have made a nice replacement for my FL2 but at £50k it's twice the price of a fully loaded VW Tiguan

Seems to me that there are a lot of alternatives out there if you just want a '4x4' but the comfort of the drive in many of these is not a patch on the Freelander its just a shame that LR have drifted off down a designer route.
Tried the Tiguan but found it very uncomfortable on a trip to NW Scotland.
Tried the new Rav and thought it was tipping over on a bend

So back to my Freelander but must say on my LR day out in the Discovery Sport really impressed so if I came into some serious dough that would be a difficult decision. If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

The other thing to consider is that over recent years the motor industry have been selling the majority of their product on PCP plans . A lot of those sales were “ up sold “ . “ Joe public” has been told for years it is their right to drive round in a new Evoque or similar . As inflation v real life comes into play perhaps people coming round to lease renewal times are realising that running a “ Premium “ vehicle is not the be all and end all compared to paying a mortgage and eating

It stands to reason that a manufacturer in the “ Premium “ sector will be one of the first to suffer . The other big problem for JLR is that they never effectively tackled the fleet market, BMW and Audi still have that tied up with vehicles that are the byword for company cars 3 series and A4 will outnumber jags 20:1 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

PCP is a ticking bomb as inflation rises , interest rates go up and the GAP gets ever wider to replace the car you have

When that GAP is not reachable how many can afford to make that final payment to be released from that PCP deal. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

My son is needing to replace his Audi A5 convertible to accommodate his ever growing Labrador, and loves my FL2 HSE.
He asked at a couple of local LR dealers about PCP on approved used but because the predicted GFV was so low the monthly costs were high, as the cars are currently high priced on LR forecourts so he walked away.
For some strange reason he wants to go with PCP for his next car, even though he can better afford the HP against an approved FL2.

Drive the deal are giving a 15% discount on a DS hse auto down to £341/2k with 5.9% PcP compulsory otherwise a £1,500 price increase. MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

Most Mercs are 20% or more off list so they are obviously 20% more expensive than they need to be. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

RogB wrote:

For some strange reason he wants to go with PCP for his next car, even though he can better afford the HP against an approved FL2.

Quote:

You can walk away at the end of three years and not be tied into buying a similarly expensive car.

I think there are a couple of different types.

1) where you pay monthly and have a guaranteed minimum future value which you can either sell back into a new deal, hand the car back and walk away, or pay it off and keep the car. Normally tied to a mileage allowance.

2) where you pay monthly, with no mileage restrictions, and just hand the car back after 3-4 years and either walk away or start afresh. This is more of a lease deal as you can never own the car.

there may even be a couple more versions out there....

Yes, I had the first type. Essentially I rented the car for three years then gave it back. I could have bought it at that point but would have had to pay more than its actual value. This was long ago when LR were owned by BMW. Things may have changed by now - either way it would be necessary to do the sums before rushing in.
Oh - and neither the dealer nor BMW leasing knew what to do with the car and it was dumped in a field for a few years. they even lost all the paperwork I had carefully kept for them. So obviously most people either paid up or traded in at the end of the lease. Ex AA Series III LWB Safari - Gone
300TDi Disco (bought new - terrible car) sent back after 18 months
Freelander 1 Estate - leased, given back at end of lease
200TDi Disco (bought from a mate with 100,000 on the clock) - Gone
Disco 2 TD5 - sold and exported to France
FR2 TD4 GS - Gone
FR2 SD4 HSE - Now changed for a DS
New model ex-demo Evoque S 180 in white
Unable to order a new DS, so gave up. Now have a Volvo S90 Recharge.

My daughter is thinking of replacing her car (something like a small Audi or something similar) so her brother did some interesting calculations looking at buying new versus used and came to the conclusion with all the finance packages around that in many cases it's now cheaper to buy a new car than a used car which implies that the manufacturers are effectively subsidising the market and that residuals are being inflated to make the numbers fit. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

MartynB wrote:

The other big problem for JLR is that they never effectively tackled the fleet market, BMW and Audi still have that tied up with vehicles that are the byword for company cars 3 series and A4 will outnumber jags 20:1

There isn’t really such a mass “fleet market” any more, not since the days of fleets of Cortinas or Cavaliers. What there is left will be a race to the bottom on price for whichever manufacturer has the deepest pockets and little in the way of dignity. BMW do remarkably well with the police fleets.

JLR are well of out of that area of the market!

The less said about the latter day Vauxhall Chevette (3 Series), or the funny Golf (A4), the better!