[QUOTE=ilesmark;440078]I think the other thing with Toyota is, what appears to be the same vehicle actually has very different specifications for different parts of the world.

In regards to building old Defenders in India/Asia. I don't think this will happen, not when the Asian car makers have cornered the market with Daihatsu, Hino, Isuzu, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Toyota and Tata - they all have a range of forward control utility pickup vehicles to sell, why put all that money into moving the tooling or setting up production for an old tech vehicle that is well overpriced and has a limited size load bed - even if the price was halved it would still be too expensive and too much of a 'niche' vehicle.



Yep, totally, you look at the North American POS we get here - the Toyota Tacoma (Hilux equivalent)- thirsty V6 petrol engine that struggles to get 24 mpg, the doublecab has a 140 inch wheelbase () and the cabin is still cramped - Utter piece of junk - but North Americans love their pick up trucks.

The South American Hilux's aren't much different to EuroSpec, though probably cheaper trims and I suspect less emissions guff on them. Ford sells the new Ranger in South America with the diesel engine, but in North America we get the old crappy Ranger with a 4.0 V6 gas guzzler petrol engine.

IF (and that's a BIG if) Land Rover are able to produce a decent mid size versatile pickup, with extended cab and roomy crew cab options, that DOESNT have a small Transit engine in it (id like to see something similar to the excellent Toyota D4D 3.0 litre engine) AND they can sell them in North America and a REASONABLE price, they MIGHT be onto a winner. Also, IF they are able to offer ROW spec vehicles with beefed up (live beam) axle suspension with simple trim levels then they MIGHT take a few sales from Toyota.

Unfortunately there are lots of variables in the above and what I think we will end up with is a plastic POS with independent air suspension and more electronics than you can shake a stick at. They might sell a few - and if its not too bad I might buy one - but no one in South America, Africa and most of Asia will touch one and I sure wont be overlanding anywhere remote in one.

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

And it will look like the Discovery, or the Freelander 2, or even the Range Rover or ....... all the other AWDs that have come out of wind tunnel testing and had a "car bodywork designer" sort them out.

But, something like 90% of current LR production in the UK is exported and the production lines are ever so busy. (good business for Tata as the parent company).

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Dave

only because of the current fashion for 4x4s and SUVs. Once that ends, as it surely will, because all fashions do, with no commercial vehicle to fall back on Landrover will cease as well.

This story came up on various LR forums that I'm on, also various G wagon forums that I'm also on.

Concensus was; if the Germans can keep the "G" looking like the "G" but with airbags, and other safety stuff, why the hell can't LR pull their stubby thumbs out of their ar$es and do the same.

The engine, as mentioned above, is the transit duratorque, so that's clean enough emissions wise. OK so the defender is hand built... as is the G. costs of the G are a lot higher than a defender, but you get what you pay for... decent paint job, a gearbox not made of cheese, an autobox option, and doors that don't leak! heck I'd pay twice the price for a defender if I got that lot.

Needless to say, I'm about to sell my 90 laning toy to fund another project..... project-G.

Probably because no one in the UK actually gives a stuff, ultimately - the few folk who talk about these things do, of course, but the great British "public" sold LR years ago into overseas ownership. Why should Tata care?

We are about to construct a new Nuclear power station here based on French design/technology and Chinese finance because we gave up on nuclear energy years ago, in the same way as we did on many other kinds of manufacturing, such as vehicles*.
When the powers-that-be decided recently, in principle, that "Nuclear is now OK in the UK", they found that everyone based in the UK who was ever involved in that industry is now retired, or dead.

* I suppose I have to qualify that by remembering that we can still do specialist design of cars (such as F1 vehicles) and we can manufacture them in the sense of assembling them for overseas based companies - in short, it all comes down to globalisation.

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Dave

As I say, why should Tata care?
Ultimately, they own the badge/brand and they can make just about anything, put the LR badge on it and sell it somewhere in the world.

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Dave

MG maestro anyone?

Funnily enough, I saw one of those today in a car park - about a 2004 registration I think it was.
But, I don't see the Chinese owner of that brand ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAIC_Motor ) using that model name any time in the near future, if at all.

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Dave