Land Rover NAS Defender Petition

[keptin]

This is not where you sign your name and information for the petition; we must first come up with the letter to petition over.





Alright.....we need someone to write a petition!!! ...or at least pieces of it. Something like or which includes;


Since 1994 Land Rover has ceased to make a Defender NAS spec model to be sold in the United States of America. With the lack of a decent priced, 90 inch or similar model a considerable amount of enthusiasts have been forced to buy other vehicles. This was understandable because of Land Rover's economic situation and the cost to produce a Defender, but since Ford has bought out Land Rover we feel as though there is sufficient economical backing and demand in the market to support a Defender-like Land Rover to compete with the Jeep Wrangler. With the arrival of the 2007 Toyota FJ cruiser to bring back thier FJ40 and the 2007 Jeep Wrangler with suggested 4-door and CRD (Common Rail Diesel) options we see Land Rover is not taking advantage of the market demand for a reasonably priced, rugged, "bare bones", off-road vehicle, especially considering Land Rover's deep heritage.

We think what is needed is to reintroduce a Defender or similar "bare bones" vehicle that is designed primarily around off-roading and is priced within a reasonable pricerange to reach its intended buyers. A diesel engine option, and optional factory off-road equiptment would be available. A short and long wheelbase option would be preferable. Like the Jeep Wrangler, this vehicle would use live axles only and come with a manual transmission option.

This vehicle is needed because we feel Land Rover is straying from its heritage and will eventually loose it by having a vehicle line consisting entirely of vehicles indended mostly for road use only. Land Rover is also loosing many potential buyers by not having a vehicle to suit the off-road croud, thier enthusiasts and the new/young driver croud, by having no diesel option, high prices, no short wheelbase vehicle in this fasion or with live axles or differential lockers and only actively sells vehicles mostly equipted with unreliable air suspension and a high amount of questionable electronic systems. With a vehicle that would suit the demands presented, Land Rover would have one of the few vehicles on the market that would fill the growing nitch for vehicles of this kind. With Land Rover's deep heritage, it has something that only a few companies have; namely Jeep, Toyota and Land Rover. Since Jeep and Toyota have thier own vehicles to cover this market, we see Land Rover as the only company left in this small ring that hasnt. We are concerned that if Land Rover does not produce a vehicle soon to suit these needs then it will loose its opportunity to have its piece of the market and that Toyota, Jeep and other competators will already have a much stonger base and active continuing heritage, taking much of the attention away from future Land Rover models.



WOW!...err....I ran out of steam...

....someone add/correct it now! I commandith thee!


96Owner suggested we use this site; http://www.petitiononline.com/create_petition.html to host our petition. It looks pretty good unless others have a better one.

[Muddy Oval]

If it makes you feel better to go through the whole process, go for it. Otherwise, there is a Defender coming to the US market in a couple of years but it's not the 'old school' Defender that we have seen before.
The fact remains that off-roaders are an extremely small segment of Land Rover customers. Out of all the people who wheel Rovers, how many bought them new? It's a tiny fraction.
Land Rover is now a luxury vehicle with some offroad technology- it's not a bare-bones utility vehicle and isn't going to be ever again.

[keptin]

Yeah.....I guess your right. I have been hearing about this 2008 Land Rover Defacer, seems as though they are trying to keep it on the down low. If they are already producing one then it will be impossible to ask them to make another. It just sucks flat out....im sure if LR made an NAS defender then people would buy.....all I hear talk about nowadays is that people are buying 2000-2005 TJ rubys because LR has nothing to offer.

...is there really no hope for a real defender?? Hell...I guess I would just be happy if it had live axles.

[Muddy Oval]

It would cost many millions of dollars to just get the current UK Defender cleared to import into the USA, not including any MAJOR changes it would take to be compliant. What is the market for a stripped down Defender? How many would they sell? Not enough. Most people who wheel Rovers buy them used...

[keptin]

yeah....on the other hand its not like they couldnt open the market to younger people and come up with something that could compete with the Jeep Wrangler as far as off-road ability and price.

I heard that the 08' Defender is confirmed....is this true?

[Bene]

i say we go for the petition. what have we got to lose?

[keptin]

Time


Then again, we could go for it.....perhaps they will produce a short wheelbase version of their new Land Rover "Defacer"