Has your build/delivery date been put back?

Yes, you have every right to be unimpressed. The whole ordering system, which seems designed to protect the smaller dealers, means there's a lottery process even before LR see the order.

Then, how LR takes those orders and assembles a build sequence is a complete mystery. There was that placating letter from the LR boss emphasising that cars are built in order sequence which is plainly not the case. There are benefits to be had in building like-cars together, especially paint colour, since reducing the number of colour changes avoids the need to flush the paint system and the delays that implies.

They say the xenon problem is now solved but it's interesting that lead times for many cars are up and I don't know why. Wait a year for a BMW X1, I don't think so!

(03-11-2011 06:40am)mark_n Wrote:  Yes, you have every right to be unimpressed. The whole ordering system, which seems designed to protect the smaller dealers, means there's a lottery process even before LR see the order.

Then, how LR takes those orders and assembles a build sequence is a complete mystery. There was that placating letter from the LR boss emphasising that cars are built in order sequence which is plainly not the case. There are benefits to be had in building like-cars together, especially paint colour, since reducing the number of colour changes avoids the need to flush the paint system and the delays that implies.

They say the xenon problem is now solved but it's interesting that lead times for many cars are up and I don't know why. Wait a year for a BMW X1, I don't think so!

Your comments about colour struck a chord with me Mark. My girlfriend lives in Halewood and I cruise 'Perimeter Road' of the factoryregularly (security are used me to now, probably think I work there!) - there are literally hundreds of Evoques there and transporters are regularly on the move - but 95% are black, white, silver and grey - there's an occasional red, sand or lime but they're rare.

Have you noticed how many of us with January builds are Firenze? (Or am I just noticing cos mine's Firenze?

On order: SD4 coupe Firenze, black roof, verve, ebony

I changed mine to Firenze with a January silver build and have no idea what that will do to my build time. My dealer has the perfect excuse - "well, you did change your colour" and who am I to argue (apart from being a customer...)?

A car is in the paint plant for 8 hours so that is something like 100+ cars being in the process at any one time though the bulk of the time is spent waiting for the paint to "dry". When I visited Mercedes-Benz in Bremen in 2002, they painted 8 bodyshells in parallel at a time and then stuck them in a glorified multi-storey car park before being called for assembly and in that way were able to separate and optimise the painting and build processes.

In Halewood, they have a buffer zone with space for, say, 100 bodyshells before the paint shop - was empty when I was there - but I do not know if the body shells are painted in the order in which the painted cars will be used. Either way, the simple idea that cars are produced in the order in whch customer orders are placed at the dealers - with all the pooling, allocations, order windows, delays, part shortages, optimisation and general SNAFUs - just cannot be the case.

Hopefully, they are having a January splurge of Firenze Red to brighten up things in the depths of winter. Let us know if you see any changes in the perimeter road! I do think though that the percentage of red cars in the poll here is unlikely to be representative. Those 4 colours - black, grey, silver, white - all colours of the same hue - are likely to dominate in the wider market.

(03-11-2011 08:17am)Range Rover Virgin Wrote:  Have you noticed how many of us with January builds are Firenze? (Or am I just noticing cos mine's Firenze?

I have ordered black and have still been delayed until Jan

Ali.

(03-11-2011 08:53am)mark_n Wrote:  I changed mine to Firenze with a January silver build and have no idea what that will do to my build time. My dealer has the perfect excuse - "well, you did change your colour" and who am I to argue (apart from being a customer...)?

A car is in the paint plant for 8 hours so that is something like 100+ cars being in the process at any one time though the bulk of the time is spent waiting for the paint to "dry". When I visited Mercedes-Benz in Bremen in 2002, they painted 8 bodyshells in parallel at a time and then stuck them in a glorified multi-storey car park before being called for assembly and in that way were able to separate and optimise the painting and build processes.

In Halewood, they have a buffer zone with space for, say, 100 bodyshells before the paint shop - was empty when I was there - but I do not know if the body shells are painted in the order in which the painted cars will be used. Either way, the simple idea that cars are produced in the order in whch customer orders are placed at the dealers - with all the pooling, allocations, order windows, delays, part shortages, optimisation and general SNAFUs - just cannot be the case.

Hopefully, they are having a January splurge of Firenze Red to brighten up things in the depths of winter. Let us know if you see any changes in the perimeter road! I do think though that the percentage of red cars in the poll here is unlikely to be representative. Those 4 colours - black, grey, silver, white - all colours of the same hue - are likely to dominate in the wider market.

Thanks Mark - interesting comments of the paint shops, thanks. I'll be watching Perimeter Road closely and I'll keep everyone posted if there's good news for the Firenze fans!

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(03-11-2011 09:12am)alibeau Wrote:  I have ordered black and have still been delayed until Jan

Ali.

Sorry bout that Ali - and clearly it's not as simple as batches of black ones, red ones etc - I'm just trying to be optimistic [that mine won't slip any further]

Dealer has now confirmed delivery date now slipped back to 14 January, which is 8 weeks from the last date they gave us, but only 3 later than the original date. But the dealer is ever optimistic and says that it may come forward again To get this info, we had to chase the dealer.

If they had told us Jan/Feb 2012 when we originally ordered 4 days after launch then we would have said OK, pretty much what we would have expected. But the late December, mid November and now mid January is the annoying part. It was on Vista the day we ordered (seen print out) so its not a dealer issue.

Its the uncertainty and now the waiting as we did the LR Experience last Friday and were amazed at what we had it doing.

(03-11-2011 06:40am)mark_n Wrote:  There are benefits to be had in building like-cars together, especially paint colour, since reducing the number of colour changes avoids the need to flush the paint system and the delays that implies.

Hmmm that makes sense. I hope the fact I've ordered the barolo black and not the sumatra doesn't push me back further, as there doesn't seem to be many that have gone for barolo.

(03-11-2011 10:52am)Daigriff Wrote:  Hmmm that makes sense. I hope the fact I've ordered the barolo black and not the sumatra doesn't push me back further, as there doesn't seem to be many that have gone for barolo.

I have.

No here's an optimistic thought. I there is only a small number of Barolo Blacks on order, perhaps they will paint the shells all at the same time because it's a premium paint, then mine might come extra early.

Can but hope.

(03-11-2011 11:16am)Evo-king Wrote:  I have.

No here's an optimistic thought. I there is only a small number of Barolo Blacks on order, perhaps they will paint the shells all at the same time because it's a premium paint, then mine might come extra early.

Can but hope.

Nice one, lets hope so

Good news! Dealer gave me the VIN, I checked on Topix, and it shows up as going to build on 31 October. Might even be with me before the end of the month, all going well....