Land Rover Defender hit by delays

The new Land Rover Defender 90 has finally touched down in Australia, but buyers who sign up now face a waiting time of up to nine months due to the ongoing shortage of semi-conductors that has hit vehicle production worldwide.

In the coming months, local buyers may also be asked to settle for models with less high-tech equipment than is currently on offer, with features such as digital instrumentation likely to be replaced by analogue gauges in the latest MY22 Land Rover Defender – in both 90 and 110 guise – in order for production to continue while the company grapples with unprecedented demand.

This situation has already hit car-makers such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz in Australia.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) Australia managing director Mark Cameron said the combined effects of the microchip shortage and orders flooding in from global markets that are recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic was making it difficult for the Australian operation to secure enough supply.

He said overseas travel restrictions has also prompted a surge in orders for Jaguar and Land Rover models – including the new Defender that has received a significant upgrade for MY22 – as well as other factors such as improving its warranty to five years (with unlimited kilometres).

“Our order take in the first six months of this year is currently up around 50 per cent on the first half of last year … and even on the second half of last calendar year [as COVID restrictions eased] we’re up around 150 per cent,” said Cameron.

It’s been a year since first examples of the Defender 110 were first registered in Australia, and Cameron said the reborn 4x4 off-roader was now accounting for 25-30 per cent of the JLR’s total order take – “and that’s showing no signs of letting off”.

The company is taking customer orders for the Slovakian-built Defender out as far as the second quarter of 2022, including the new short-wheelbase 90 that is expected to account for 20 per cent of the SUV’s total sales.

“We are now taking orders out to February, March, even April next year,” said Cameron. “Defender has been an absolutely phenomenal success … and everything that’s coming into Australia is already pre-sold.

“Certainly into the first calendar quarter next year for new orders placed.”

After reducing production in the first half of this year, the British manufacturer is expecting to build more than 50 per cent fewer vehicles in the current quarter than it originally forecast, and anticipates pressures will remain up to at least the end of the year.

“We’re still going to see the effects on our ability to produce cars and get them shipped and over to Australia into the early parts of next year, and given our size and the fact that all of our vehicles carry a high level of technology … and therefore a high content of semi-conductors, we’ve got some pretty difficult decisions to make going forward,” said Cameron.

“Inevitably, we’re going to have to take some measures in Australia to limit availability of some models, derivatives or specification items in order to keep ability to produce vehicles for this market and satisfy our customers.

“This is the big topic that we’re knee-deep in right now in terms of how we plan for that and do our best to satisfy customer orders and continue to take orders going forward – but with those constraints.

“At a time when demand is at unprecedented levels, to have these constraints is obviously deeply frustrating.”

Asked to specify what content would be removed, Cameron said: “We’re not looking at safety features, but we’re looking at some technology that carries a high intensity of chips and whether we can look at alternatives.

“The reason why this is sensitive in terms of detail is that one of the key things to emphasise is that we’ve got to make sure we manage customer expectations, and if we’re having to make specification changes then obviously we’ll be making hopefully some compensating feature additions that don’t require chip technology.

“We’d obviously rather have vehicles on sale in Australia than no vehicles. That’s why it’s quite a challenging situation to look at, but we’ll definitely do the right thing by our customers.”

On other issues, the local JLR chief said the Land Rover Discovery had defied its critics who said it would be nobbled by the arrival of the Defender, citing demand outstripping supply for this model too.

Plug-in hybrid and full-electric vehicles, including the new Land Rover Defender P400e PHEV, are also now being considered for Australia, but Cameron admitted they were more a case of “in years to come” and was not prepared to nominate a specific model that would lead the charge.

“We will constantly evaluate the marketplace and the feasibility of offering PHEV drivetrains in Australia,” he said.

“There are PHEV drivetrains available on many of our models, including Defender, Range Rover Evoque, Discovery Sport, Range Rover Velar, Jaguar F-PACE and Jaguar E-PACE. We have offered PHEV variants of Range Rover and Range Rover Sport since 2018.

“With changes at state government level in terms of incentives around electric vehicles … I am looking at the market changes, the condition changes, with a view to deciding when the best opportunity is for those vehicles to be introduced into Australia.

“Obviously there has to be a business case, there has to be volume to warrant that, but we’re committed to try and improve the mix of low-emissions vehicles with our fleet and welcome what’s happening at the moment in terms of movement at state level at least.”