I'm still very confused about LR's pre-launch approach to marketing the Discovery Sport. So far we have just 4 high-end models available and a host of technological marvels to add as options to boost the price yet further.

Not at all clear when the new design Ingenium engines will be available for this LR range, late 2015, 2016 ...... etc. Nor clear if range will have petrol alternatives, or plug-in hybrids or when. For all the glossy image, the launch so far feels more damp squibby to me!

Will less affluent FL2 owners now be abandoned completely, or will a smaller Discovery Sport be on offer. and when? Life is not a dress rehearsal!

DS with new engines on sale from June 2015, so I am told.

I've had 6 Freelanders since 2001 , ( 4 FL1"s and 2 FL2"s ) , when my 2014 model is 3 yrs old I hope there may be a 5 seater cheaper version available for us to consider .
There are only 2 of us and the DS looks like it will be of our reach , think I paid about £21000 (new) for the 2001 model and £27500 for the 14 one .
At least by 2017 there will be a couple of years of user ownership and maybe product development to temp us

Today, the second car FL gets dumped in favour of a BMW. I just couldn't justify spending the sort of dosh they wanted on an Evoque or Disco Sport. I can't see LR produce a cheaper car.

It will make a massive effect on how many cars they sell and I am scratching my head over it tbh. Don't forget, a lot of people purchased a FL, then traded up to a higher end model, as I did for my first car.

I can see that LR will disappear when I trade i in a year or two unless the DS new engine is something quite special and LR get up to speed with technology and ancillary costs of owing their products and I can afford it, I just don't choose to afford it.

Ta-ra then....  Foraging near Gaydon....
——————————————
MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

From a business point of view, LR are going know where. They will around for years to come. They need to move on with the times, I agree, but you can't expect everything at once.

There will be a smaller Disco Sport at some point. I have had that from contacts inside LR. Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

I am not sure LR do know where they are going, why discontinue a sucessful and moderately priced car and effectively make the starting point another £10k?

The Economic landscape is littered with casualties of the recession, some of the major firms weve never had considered would have gone under.

If they have a plan, maybe they want to dump the cheaper products in favour of the more prestige model? It's speculation, but without a replacement what else can you think?

LR have ditched the FL2 which was their competitor to the X3 / Q5 and replaced it with the DS which goes up against the X5 / Q7. Audi and BMW have identified the growing trend for small suv's and have released X1 and Q3 models which again LR have no model to compete with. I'm sure LR will fill this gap in due course but surely having such a void in what can only be regarded as the biggest selling sector (small - medium suv's) is a big mistake Now - 2017 BMW X3 M Sport Carbon Black
Gone - 2014 BMW X3 M Sport Space Grey, faultless!
Gone - 2011 Freelander 2 SD4 HSE Bali Blue with xenons
Gone - 2008 Freelander 2 TD4 HSE Rimini Red with bodykit

Thanks for your comments so far; seems I am NOT alone in my feelings about LR product range strategy. Of course there are many on this forum and elsewhere who can and will afford a DS, however I suspect there are very many more FL owners and other prospective LR customers out there who cannot, or will not at the current high price levels.

There seems to me a major disconnect between the welcome & huge LR expansion & investment in new plant & machinery, full 3 shift working, hiring record numbers of graduates etc. ….. and appearing to abandon their high volume mid-sized, mid-priced offering!

so far at least ….. Life is not a dress rehearsal!

LR had better hurry up, there's plenty of 'would be' SUV companies wanting to jump on the band wagon......



Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Last edited by shilen on 29th Sep 2014 1:40 pm. Edited 1 time in total

Maybe LR have been concentrating too hard on the Range Rover brand - they certainly seem to have dropped the ball when it comes to the Land Rover brand.

The rot started long before the DS, with the iconic Defender. This was allowed to struggle on with no significant development for year after year after year until finally being killed off by EU legislation. Yet even now there is no replacement in sight - 2018 seems to be the likely release date for another vehicle bearing the Defender name. (I hesitate to say Defender replacement, as it's looking likely that the new Defender will be nothing like the old, and may well be just yet another lifestyle SUV.)

Is this just incompetence? Or is it a deliberate ploy to defuse the disappointment which is likely to be felt when a new and different Defender finally breaks cover? Either way the result is that most potential Defender buyers are now driving around in pickups of various kinds (nice one Land Rover!).

Then there's the DS. More models coming, we hear, but today's reality is that the current DS is 'it'. That means that the cheapest LR (ignoring the Defender, for obvious reasons) now costs £33K, and for that all you get is a facelifted GS-spec Freelander with a design which makes it look like yet another RR! Disappointing, to say the least.

Maybe when viewed in the context of new markets in Asia and Eastern Europe this strategy makes some kind of sense, but it's hard to see how leaving gaping holes in the model range can ever really make sense!

Shilen, I have to ask - what on earth does an old Aztec (the ugliest car ever made) have to do with anything?

Anyone who has been on a marketing course knows that you always launch your top end products first so as to profit from the "early adopters" , you then work your way down the feature/price range as people aspire to owning one but can't quite afford the top end version.
The second thing is that you decide what your target customer base is. Originally it was farmers and the army then the "lifestyle" market appeared which is much bigger. It is clear to me that the LR market is now all about aspiration and lifestyle, after all how many actually go off road?

pab wrote:

Shilen, I have to ask - what on earth does an old Aztec (the ugliest car ever made) have to do with anything?

you must be seeing things....