Having low sales is probably the worst thing for a car manufacturer (and any business, for that matter), but sometimes having too many orders can be quite difficult to manage as well. That’s what is happening to Land Rover, which is reportedly having a difficult time meeting demand for the all-new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport.
Demand for the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport is so strong that Land Rover is struggling to fill orders. According to a report from Automotive News, which quotes a company spokesman, the waiting time for the Sport is nine months, while Range Rover buyers must wait six months.
Much of the demand comes from China, although the Range Rover’s list price is as high as 2.8 million yuan (€338,000/$457,000) in the Asian country. Furthermore, according to a report from Bernstein Research, some Chinese customers are willing to pay as much as €60,000 ($81,100) to move to the top of the waiting list.
The same report says Jaguar Land Rover vastly underestimated demand for the two SUVs by almost 40 percent. However, JLR doesn’t have solutions to speed up manufacturing, as its Solihull plant in the UK is working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Even worse, the carmaker can’t get enough engines from supplier Ford, which still manufactures most of the powerplants for Jaguar and Land Rover. JLR will start making its own range of four-cylinder engines starting in 2015. Based on the modular 4-cylinder units, the carmaker could also build V8 engines.
By Dan Mihalascu
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