Interesting article in today's FT about how car manufacturers are starting to realise that all of their small suppliers may not survive the Covid19 Lock Down and that their suppliers have suppliers too which they don't see.
This raises an interesting question about the quality of components that will go into a the first batches of "post lockdown" cars. We used to talk about Friday night cars where the workers were taking short cuts to get home early but that was on the production line. Now we might find that the manufacturer of a small item perhaps a valve in a fuel pump or an engine, closes down and is replaced by a company that hasn't made one before and that essential know how about heat treatment or whatever has to be re learned.
Scary thought if you are thinking of buying a new car later in the year. 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

Better to get a 'Pre-Virus' New Defender then ....... as opposed to a 'Post-Virus' edition. ??

Sales people across the country will not claim "One careful lady owner" any more, but .... "Pre-Virus' Model"



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I can’t see Land Rover surviving full stop to be honest with billions world wide out of jobs the last item on anybody’s list will be a new car, LR were in street prior to this virus

3rd post in and LRs already going under

You lot are a cheery bunch  21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

Largered wrote:

Better to get a 'Pre-Virus' New Defender then ....... as opposed to a 'Post-Virus' edition. ??

Sales people across the country will not claim "One careful lady owner" any more, but .... "Pre-Virus' Model"



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All the more reason to keep on to the old girl

If you nip down the M5, you will most likely to be able to see your next car.

As you go over the Avonmouth Bridge (JN19) you will see thousands and thousands of cars stored next to the river.
It's ideal Damp, Salty, conditions are there to test the modern rust prevention methods.

And as they are 'new', I doubt if it will be even necessary to present them as old pre-registered cars. FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

Are they for Export or have they been Imported .... or Both ?

IanMetro wrote:

If you nip down the M5, you will most likely to be able to see your next car.

As you go over the Avonmouth Bridge (JN19) you will see thousands and thousands of cars stored next to the river.
It's ideal Damp, Salty, conditions are there to test the modern rust prevention methods.

And as they are 'new', I doubt if it will be even necessary to present them as old pre-registered cars.

Always a problem with companies that owns multiple dealerships, a "cost of sales" thingie........

Akin to "horses on the payroll"

IanMetro wrote:

If you nip down the M5, you will most likely to be able to see your next car.

As you go over the Avonmouth Bridge (JN19) you will see thousands and thousands of cars stored next to the river.
It's ideal Damp, Salty, conditions are there to test the modern rust prevention methods.

And as they are 'new', I doubt if it will be even necessary to present them as old pre-registered cars.

I have a part time job at the place that you are talking about, Portbury Dock. We have storage space there for up to 72,000 vehicles. They are imported and exported from there on giant vehicle transport ships, the biggest of them carry more than 2,500 cars, van, light truck and plant.

We get to unload and load for export a lot of LandRovers of all models and types, they are usually all LHD which are being exported to America and the Middle East.

My son worked there some years ago, changing interiors of imported Mitsubishi SUVs for luxury leather to suit the British market.

I watched them loading cars onto a ship (looked more like a huge floating car park), the cars move at quite a speed, very impressive.

Below is a link to an article and some pictures of Portbury Dock.

Looking from the motorway, it seems that the number of cars stored there increased greatly in anticipation of Brexit problems, and then got stuck there when the Coronavirus Lockdown began.

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/busines...rld-108031 FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 76k+ miles) (MY2015)

Yes it is quite a slick operation. it is totally worked around the times of the tides, up to three of theses ships can be accommodated at any one time. we operate with two 12 hour shifts per day; on a good day I either unload or load between 40 to 45 vehicles per shift.

All the vehicles are in pre-delivery mode are are generally regulated to a speed of 30 mph plus, this is necessary to maintain safety at all times, as a ship full of Range Rovers down to Fiat 500's is a very high value if something goes wrong.

The last time that I was there was about 3 1/2 weeks ago and onsite storage had been reduced by about a 1/3rd.




One of the ships unloading at Bristol.