Photo: Land Rover
Jaguar and quality or Land Rover and quality don’t go together that well if you ask many people, especially owners. Reliability issues stem from the good ol’ days when both automakers used very bad electricals from Lucas. Quality issues, meanwhile, became all the more obvious when British Leyland Motor Corporation took over control.
The BL era is remembered for incapable executives, sub-standard management, and workers that were more interested in striking than building cars properly. British Leyland collapsed in 1986, and two decades later, Jaguar and Land Rover were both acquired by Indian automaker Tata Motors.
Speaking to investors, chief executive officer Thierry Bollore has finally acknowledged that quality and reliability issues are costing the company over 100,000 sales per year. “The dissatisfaction of our customers is detrimental to our volume,” said the head honcho as quoted by Automotive News.
Gee, what took you so long? Even when Ford owned Jaguar and Land Rover, they were consistently ranked at the bottom of reliability surveys in the United States, United Kingdom, and continental Europe. In the most recent J.D. Power survey for dependability, Jaguar made the list on third-from-last position, Alfa Romeo on the penultimate, and Land Rover dead last.
The bad rep can also be attributed to automotive vloggers. Doug DeMuro used to daily a Range Rover, and over six years, CarMax paid him an eye-watering $21,276 in claims for a $3,699 warranty. The Fast Lane also deserves to be mentioned because the four-cylinder turbo engine in their new Defender gave up the ghost after only 167 miles (269 kilometers).
Given these circumstances, are you surprised that sales are down 24 percent in 2020 versus the preceding year? Cars breaking down cost JLR a lot of money, the kind of money that makes or breaks the company’s credibility.
On the earnings call, chief creative officer Gerry McGovern reassured investors that “we are reducing the complexity of our vehicles massively.” That’s a curious way of addressing quality and reliability, more so if you remember that Land Rover has added unwanted complexity to the Defender by switching from a simple ladder frame to a unibody. Looking at the bigger picture, going electric to the detriment of ICE is the only way forward.
Speaking to investors, chief executive officer Thierry Bollore has finally acknowledged that quality and reliability issues are costing the company over 100,000 sales per year. “The dissatisfaction of our customers is detrimental to our volume,” said the head honcho as quoted by Automotive News.
Gee, what took you so long? Even when Ford owned Jaguar and Land Rover, they were consistently ranked at the bottom of reliability surveys in the United States, United Kingdom, and continental Europe. In the most recent J.D. Power survey for dependability, Jaguar made the list on third-from-last position, Alfa Romeo on the penultimate, and Land Rover dead last.
The bad rep can also be attributed to automotive vloggers. Doug DeMuro used to daily a Range Rover, and over six years, CarMax paid him an eye-watering $21,276 in claims for a $3,699 warranty. The Fast Lane also deserves to be mentioned because the four-cylinder turbo engine in their new Defender gave up the ghost after only 167 miles (269 kilometers).
Given these circumstances, are you surprised that sales are down 24 percent in 2020 versus the preceding year? Cars breaking down cost JLR a lot of money, the kind of money that makes or breaks the company’s credibility.
On the earnings call, chief creative officer Gerry McGovern reassured investors that “we are reducing the complexity of our vehicles massively.” That’s a curious way of addressing quality and reliability, more so if you remember that Land Rover has added unwanted complexity to the Defender by switching from a simple ladder frame to a unibody. Looking at the bigger picture, going electric to the detriment of ICE is the only way forward.
Google News