Tata to build LR in China

[haven]

"a negotiated deal that if they are made there, then they can sell there."

Actually, LR is sold in China already. Chinese sales represent about 8% of Land Rover sales world-wide, according to the Autoblog article quoted in the original post. I've seen other articles that state 2009 LR sales were up 55% in China. Both Land Rover and Jaguar are popular in China.

China is the world's largest auto market. Any auto manufacturer that doesn't have a presence (at least for sales) in China isn't working hard enough for its shareholders.

 

[Z O O R O P A]

"a negotiated deal that if they are made there, then they can sell there."

Actually, LR is sold in China already. Chinese sales represent about 8% of Land Rover sales world-wide, according to the Autoblog article quoted in the original post. I've seen other articles that state 2009 LR sales were up 55% in China. Both Land Rover and Jaguar are popular in China.

China is the world's largest auto market. Any auto manufacturer that doesn't have a presence (at least for sales) in China isn't working hard enough for its shareholders.

well said

 

[overlander]

"a negotiated deal that if they are made there, then they can sell there."

Actually, LR is sold in China already. Chinese sales represent about 8% of Land Rover sales world-wide, according to the Autoblog article quoted in the original post. I've seen other articles that state 2009 LR sales were up 55% in China. Both Land Rover and Jaguar are popular in China.

China is the world's largest auto market. Any auto manufacturer that doesn't have a presence (at least for sales) in China isn't working hard enough for its shareholders.

Good point. Must be a labor cost issue then.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I think what tends to bother Land Rover owners most, even more than minor gremlins, is the cost of repair and parts. Chinese made Rover parts made to the same spec as British made Rover parts could drop in cost worldwide.

Or more likely, the parts manufacturing moves to China, but the consumer price remains the same. LR uses the extra profits to spend even more engineering money making their vehicles even more complicated.

 

[I Leak Oil]

I think the trucks built in China will be of better quality. There's just something about the threat of being put to death for getting caught building a faulty product that can motivate the work force.....

 

[MattScott]

It's like we naturally assume the chinese are inept. All of my Apple products have been flawless, they're all made in China.

Just because a large percentage of their exports are cheap/nik-nak goods, doesn't mean they don't have the capability to produce a quality product.

Anyway, doesn't the job just involve standing on an assembly line, pressing buttons?

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yes, that is a big part of the issue. North American unions have dumbed down the jobs to the point that... litterally, you could train a monkey to do it.

Clicker torque wrenches weren't good enough. Now they have $6000 DC Nutrunners from Stanley that have computerized torque feedback, they detect cross-threads, incompletely tightened, or prematurely yielded fasteners, and output red and green lights. I had an argument once with a plant, where we wanted to wire the system to stop the line if a critical high-warranty joint wasn't tightened properly, and the plant responded "We can't do that, the line will stop too often!"

 

[AmericaOverland]

I think the trucks built in China will be of better quality. There's just something about the threat of being put to death for getting caught building a faulty product that can motivate the work force.....

I think a few more people will die when they find out what happened with the cadmium contamination of the Micky D's Shrek glasses for kids.

I don't know if it's that their eastern mindset doesn't allow them the ability to scientifically break down things to components levels (what I heard from someone specializing in eastern medicine and culture) or if it's they make things like that because they don't want to spend the money to check things or they intend to poison us.

 

[AmericaOverland]

Stephanie -

why are you tired of seeing "made in China"?

Because they're the ones making money, being productive, developing skills that make their country more self-sufficient, and we're literally throwing away ours. It's like all we want to become is a nation of white-collar workers so that we don't have to go outside and get dirty for a living or run a business on a human scale. Our government is literally running businesses out of the country, and pretty soon, there will be those who make the white-collar money, those who sell to and cater to the white-collars, and then everyone else. Everyone else will have to find something to do... It used to be that jobs in garbage collection and retail and other jobs were used as entry points into the job market to teach basic job skills - be on time, do your job, respect your coworkers and your bosses, manage a living on the money you earn, and pick up a skill or two that could be used in a different way later on. Now, the direction we're headed in, it's going to be difficult to break out of one of the three groups unless you've got access to either educate yourself out of the "everyone else category" or spring yourself into the producing, developing countries like India, China, and so forth.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent, that's all.

 

[SMD]

SantanaLing?

Some thoughts...

How did Series owners of the day view the manufacture of Santanas?

I think part of the charm of Land Rovers is still that they're of British, stiff-upper-lip, roam-the-world, it's-just-a-flesh-wound heritage. In my North American biased opinion, the sales of most LRs are more dependent on that heritage than LR give credit or realize. The blinged out Rovers are/will be a passing trend. Take away the hard to quantify heritage factor and what will LR become? ( Yes, I realize the NA market vehicles will still be Brit, but surely the rest of the world has similar inherent views of Rovers. Remember, the sun never set on the Empire...)

Another thought: perhaps none of the issues above will matter. The Chinese and Indian markets alone (if China continues well economically) will probably be enough to keep the company running. The rest of us be damned!

And really, how many of us if we had the option to buy a 2015 Defender in the US (assuming you had the $$, the vehicle was spec'd out to your dream: diesel, lockers, etc) would turn it down if only the ones built in China made it to our continent? I think it might be a tough decision.

 

[SMD]

Because they're the ones making money, being productive, developing skills that make their country more self-sufficient, and we're literally throwing away ours. It's like all we want to become is a nation of white-collar workers so that we don't have to go outside and get dirty for a living or run a business on a human scale. Our government is literally running businesses out of the country, and pretty soon, there will be those who make the white-collar money, those who sell to and cater to the white-collars, and then everyone else. Everyone else will have to find something to do... It used to be that jobs in garbage collection and retail and other jobs were used as entry points into the job market to teach basic job skills - be on time, do your job, respect your coworkers and your bosses, manage a living on the money you earn, and pick up a skill or two that could be used in a different way later on. Now, the direction we're headed in, it's going to be difficult to break out of one of the three groups unless you've got access to either educate yourself out of the "everyone else category" or spring yourself into the producing, developing countries like India, China, and so forth.

Thanks for the opportunity to vent, that's all.

Agree.

 

[greenrover]

I think part of the charm of Land Rovers is still that they're of British, stiff-upper-lip, roam-the-world, it's-just-a-flesh-wound heritage. In my North American biased opinion, the sales of most LRs are more dependent on that heritage than LR give credit or realize...( Yes, I realize the NA market vehicles will still be Brit, but surely the rest of the world has similar inherent views of Rovers. Remember, the sun never set on the Empire...)
.

You have this absolutely correct - that is the Land Rover brand, true today or not.

What people need to understand is that the US opened our market to foreign manufacturers without demanding that they disclose IP or bring factories to our shores. Pick up a copy of The Economist and understand that the hard-working chinese laborer is a far cry different than the government that demands kick-backs, IP disclosure and more, in the name of opening a huge market to businesses.

There is nothing wrong with locally produced product, for that market. I see this less about quality product than free-market economies, and the ethos of a brand.

Fire away.

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04 Disco

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87 Range Rover