Some clarification required.

As we all know there has been a number of posts on here regarding delays, albeit over demand, xenons, steering racks, pan roofs and instrument panel and the like.

I also have been reading that there may be some positives coming from the production side, longer shifts, increased output, xenon availability again.

Somewhere in between the truth probably lies.

So can someone explain the process from payment of deposit/order to delivery. As I understand it and am happy to be corrected is that, when you pay your deposit you get an order receipt, then the dealer has to place and order with the factory, the dealer has a monthly order allocation i.e. 10 cars, so if he has 15 orders in one month the other 5 wait for the next months order allocation, in turn the factory is plotting production and creating it's own production plan and notifies the dealer what cars they will manufacture in the forward programmed month.

This is all taking place in light of the fact the factory has some 30000 forward orders.

I am currently looking at a June delivery and cannot see this coming forward, but would just like to have a better understanding of this process.

Very sensible question! Why such a difficult one to answer!? It would be easier to get an answer to the Eurozone crisis!

(05-11-2011 06:24pm)ChuckieB Wrote:  Very sensible question! Why such a difficult one to answer!? It would be easier to get an answer to the Eurozone crisis!

Do you think that will be resolved before I take delivery then.

(05-11-2011 04:18pm)Evo-king Wrote:  As we all know there has been a number of posts on here regarding delays, albeit over demand, xenons, steering racks, pan roofs and instrument panel and the like.

I also have been reading that there may be some positives coming from the production side, longer shifts, increased output, xenon availability again.

Somewhere in between the truth probably lies.

So can someone explain the process from payment of deposit/order to delivery. As I understand it and am happy to be corrected is that, when you pay your deposit you get an order receipt, then the dealer has to place and order with the factory, the dealer has a monthly order allocation i.e. 10 cars, so if he has 15 orders in one month the other 5 wait for the next months order allocation, in turn the factory is plotting production and creating it's own production plan and notifies the dealer what cars they will manufacture in the forward programmed month.

This is all taking place in light of the fact the factory has some 30000 forward orders.

I am currently looking at a June delivery and cannot see this coming forward, but would just like to have a better understanding of this process.

Having worked with automotive manufacturers and their dealer networks for the thick end of 30 years I can answer this generically and probably shed some light on the challenges LR will be facing with a runaway success on their hands.

Before we get to your specific order its useful to understand how vehicle manufacturers work - in fact for the most part they don't so much manufacture rather than 'assemble' and that is where the first challenge occurs. Because it is an assembly process using parts that are bought from a myriad of suppliers (who most probably also supply other brands i.e. Jaguar, Ford etc) LR will be planning production anything from 12 to 24 months in advance.

The advanced production plan is pretty rough and at the outer edge they will be no more that xxxx 3 doors and xxxx 5 doors - and the chances are that they are all white too. As production nears the point of no return these cars will become real vehicles with prospective owners and real specifications. So why is this significant? Well there are three primary reasons:

1) All the component suppliers need to know what the expected production requirements are (because they have suppliers, who probably also have suppliers too) who need to know what's required and when.

2) All automotive manufacturers imposes purchase contracts on their suppliers with extremely strict call-off schedules - the call-off schedules are synchronised with the production process so that the materials - say the seats - arrive line-side (called line-side sequencing) at the absolute point they are required for installation..because....

3) The automotive manufacturing process is at the absolute pinnacle of 'lean' and that means almost all of components on-site at any given time are to be installed imminently on one of the vehicles travelling down the production line. Inventory costs money - and it falls due for payment at the point of delivery.

Now - roll back to the start and the 12-24 month production plan and the negotiations with all the component suppliers. Guestimating the likely vehicle build requirements of the Evoque, which models and options are going to be most popular on a something that probably 75% of the potential end purchasers have never even dreamt about is incredibly challenging.

I digress - when you place your order at the dealer this will be placed allocated some sort of order reference at LR - the specification will be checked (is it buildable?) and one of the dealers model allocation slots assigned. Behind the scenes the component requirements are flagged up as being possibly required with the suppliers and then when the production build 'slot' is allocated (typically 4-6 weeks before build) a 'consignment number' is generated and that will soon be joined by a VIN number too. The component orders are called off the supplier schedules with specific labelling, plant gate numbers and precise timings sent too. Incidently should any supplier fail to meet the delivery timings - being either too early or too late then punative penalities are often applied.

This is the point where as customer you will no longer be able to change the spec (we have all done it ) and the dealer will hopefully advise you of an ex-factory date. It can also be the point where you are notified of a delay and your promised delivery window slips especially if some essential component is in short supply.

If all goes to plan then the vehicle is built and rolls off the end of the production line. From there it will go to QA and get thoroughly checked - paint, glass, trim and any 'not right' items will be rectified. Some manufacturers also do a short road-test on a special track to make sure there are no squeaks or rattles etc before being signed off.

The vehicles are taken to the car park - each car parking space is numbered and the precise location of the consignement number is recorded. If it's road transport in the UK then the vehicles are lined up into rows called 'sticks' for a particular transporter trailer and a given delivery route - waiting until there is a full truck load to go. The dealer is occasionally notified that the vehicles have left the factory and could be given an ETA - though most will tell you they never know and the vehicles just appear.

OK?

Now when something like the Evoque becomes a global sensation and everyone wants one it is a fact of life that the automotive supply chain is so complicated that it isn't like turning on a tap to make more vehicles. There are thousands, probably tens of thousands of people in suppliers across the world that need to do more of everything - and some that most probably don't have the capacity to make more of their particular component even if they wanted to. It isn't an easy challenge to overcome at all.

Is there any upside or good news? Well yes there is - vehicles that are hard to get hold their residual value better, the dealers can sell at 'list' price and don't have to discount and that ensures the second hand-prices stay high too and that just enhances the desiarability of the brand still further.

Hindsight's a wonderful thing but it's possible LR could have made things easier for themselves when they saw the level of interest by having a Launch Edition, highly specc'd in a limited range of colours, to get the car started, especially for foreign markets.

My issue with LR has always been not the wait itself but the fact it keeps changing and the low confidence that the latest of the 6 dates I have had will be any more reality than fiction. There seems to be little correlation between when you sign the order (and when it can therefore first go to LR) and when the car arrives.

Marc_n.

I too wondered about this launch edition concept, as often we have gone into a showroom and the dealer has said we don't have your exact spec, but you can order this and it will be with you in x weeks. Which is perhaps a shame on JLR's behalf, but I also understand that what they a building is a Prestige vehicle and customers want and indeed specify to their individual requirements.

We get the car we want, but not when we want.

Writing these posts in someway takes my mind off of the impatience.

When Mercedes launched the current SL in 2002, they produced the "Launch Edition" SL500 for the US market, an exclusive colour which was then no longer available but all built to the same spec for the market. This allowed them to fill early customer demand (even if the colour did look like bile) without the whole business of custom configurations getting in the way.

I believe there are 384000 possible combinations of options - 2 body styles, 4 engines, 3 transmissions, (say), 10 paint colours and 10 interiors, pano roof, headlining, and on and on, and they all mount up even if some combinations are not available to put a lid on the total.

They could have made life easier for themselves by having a launch edition as well but it would surely have been a white car, SD4, coupe or 5 door and a fixed set of bundled options, roof, tailgate, upgraded stereo, xenons etc etc and sold to ealry adopters with special badges or something.

Straydox.

There doesn't seem to be a thank you button, so thanks for a comprehensive reply.

Some of us find this forum a means to alleviate our frustrations.

The points you make about ordering and assembly, I am familiar with as I used to work with a very large organisation, starting in supply which became logistics, we used to have huge storage sites but eventually moved to on demand ordering. Then I moved into budgets where I found commercial accounting procedures weird, but this did explain the on demand supply principles and quit that for audit.

Your explanation regarding delivery was also informative.

All of which explains the predicament many of us are in regarding our orders, it is just a pity someone from JLR perhaps could have said this, in whatever 'spin speak' they might have chosen to use, at least it may have placated many.

I am also left wondering why they didn't make a number of as was mentioned earlier a Launch Edition model to satiate demand, although I can guess the answer, that you dilute the desireabilty and exclusivity of the model which in turn will hit residuals.

Thanks anyhow.

@Straydox
Thanks for a great contribution which I found most informative. Now I know why my dealer did not know when the car was going to arrive exactly and that is why my paperwork is holding things up because it arrived a week early!
Cheers

Thanks guys.

With regard to launch editions I suspect that the std spec of the derivatives available at launch has had the effect of skewing the ordering patterns or ratios of Pure, Prestige and Dynamic models.

For most brands the entry level or base model has such a lowly, miserable specification that no one wants it and it prompts an 'up sell' to one of the more lucrative, higher end models - in this instance Prestige or Dynamic.

The fact is that the Pure is a phenominal value and comes with almost all the desireable kit a standard - add the tech pack and Xenons/fogs and its good enough for the majority of customers.

Now armed with the knowledge of the supply chain challenges and guessing that LR probaby under estimated the Pure's popularity at the expense of the other models we could surmise that they have accidently messed up the planning process catastrophic results for the sold order pipeline.

I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Pure isn't down-spec'd at some point in the future to increase the gap between the entry and mid-range models.