JLR Invests another £200 million at Halewood

In the news just now on BBC and LR News, JLR to invest £200 million and employ another 250 people at Halewood
for building the new Discovery Sport

http://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-i...od_180614/

Definitely won't be buying one of them until all the trainees are fully trained........... I think Evoque and Freelander2 quality took a hit when LR took on a huge number of employees to keep up with production there 2 years ago. It left a very unpleasant result for some customers who were new to the brand and took delivery of poorly assembled cars - many of those customers will never buy another Land Rover product again unfortunately, but management at LR didn't care, they could sell ever car that rolled off the line, well assembled or not......... now they have to concentrate on getting the cost to buy back down to a level that mere mortals and not millionaires can afford.

(19-06-2014 10:14am)XFullFatTim Wrote:  In the news just now on BBC and LR News, JLR to invest £200 million and employ another 250 people at Halewood
for building the new Discovery Sport

http://newsroom.jaguarlandrover.com/en-i...od_180614/

Definitely won't be buying one of them until all the trainees are fully trained........... I think Evoque and Freelander2 quality took a hit when LR took on a huge number of employees to keep up with production there 2 years ago. It left a very unpleasant result for some customers who were new to the brand and took delivery of poorly assembled cars - many of those customers will never buy another Land Rover product again unfortunately, but management at LR didn't care, they could sell ever car that rolled off the line, well assembled or not......... now they have to concentrate on getting the cost to buy back down to a level that mere mortals and not millionaires can afford.

Tim,

Agree on the cost debate - it's getting way too expensive for me to consider replacing my Prestige (especially as it would be the Autobiography at a rumoured £50K + !!)

I was only thinking of replacing to get the extra economy anyway from the 9 speed box, otherwise totally happy to keep mine as originally intended (several years) - by which time we'll all be driving electric buggys anyway.

I agree with some of the pricing, a specced-up Evoque at £50k plus seems ridiculous to me; but a sensibly specified Pure at around £34/35k doesn't seem bad value.

(19-06-2014 05:08pm)timhum Wrote:  I agree with some of the pricing, a specced-up Evoque at £50k plus seems ridiculous to me; but a sensibly specified Pure at around £34/35k doesn't seem bad value.

That's always been the case but many here frown at the fact,"you don't get your money back on the costs of options at resale time","for an extra couple of grand I can get a prestige with all that as standard" and all that jargon.
You look on auto trader and the difference in prices between pure/prestige/dynamic are all within very little of each other.
Anything over 40k for an evoque is a liberty as far as I'm concerned there are a lot faster/quieter/bigger/quality cars out there for 45-50k

My Evoque faired pretty well, had one or two minor rattles, the Freelander was perfect unlike Solihull's efforts my current D4 has more rattles than Mothercare, nice to drive but not a pleasant place to be at times and my first D3 needed a new engine with 17K on the clock.

I'm looking forward to the arrival of my Disco Sport, I put my faith in the people of Liverpool

My current car listed at £53000 and to be honest I after delivery I do not feel that I have received a car of the quality that that price should give me. Don't get me wrong it is a lovely car but the quality of the build and fittings just don't match to that amount of money - it doesn't even FEEL like the £42,000 that I paid for FFRR's and RRS's 10 years ago with it's low cost switches, slow and out of date in-dash technology and lightweight/ flimsy trim panels. They look smart and I know why they are there but they are not worth what is charged for them and they do not have Range Rover expected quality.
It is more than ever likely to be my last new Land Rover product I purchase, LR are lucky, I have the money to spend now but in 3 years time I will not be able to afford LR new car prices if they keep soaring and the quality/ value / running costs don't match expenditure and then there are the doubts about the reliability and cost of keeping in dash tech up to date that mitigate against keeping a modern Land Rover once the warranty expires. I can see that once I retire I will be selling the Evoque and continuing to own my by then 21 year old Defender which costs peanuts to maintain and runs as well as the day it left Solihull's production line

Granted the Evoque ain't worth the money, I've always said that from the day I got it, the feel doesn't match the price tag.

Each new Land Rover product gets more and more expensive, this Disco Sport will be my last for a while.

XFullFatTim,
You've hit the nail on the head, your Evoque is not a £53k car, it is a £31k car loaded with extras and as said before its quite a good £31k car but a Range Rover it isn't.

I totally agree with comments made regarding price structure, LR are on a winning run at the moment and whilst they produce quality cars as perceived by the general public all it will take is some bad reviews on the new models to put prospective buyers off especially at the spiralling costs to own a LR/RR

I agree. I love my car but I have to say I'm going to need to keep it for a few years in order to get my money's worth and to be honest I don't think it was quite worth what I paid for it (39k at 8 months old with 8k on the clock, list should have been 47k all in). I have to say I think next time I'll probably not be going for another LR product. The wife's TT has been a far better long-term purchase, I might go German next even though the Evoque is a far nicer design outside than anything made in Germany (and one of the only cars I really like at the moment, design-wise).