24 February 2014

25 Years Of Land Rover Discovery

The Discovery 4. Below the I, II & III models in that order

When Discovery production started late 1989, it became the third model in the LR line up. A few years of settling in led to a growth spurt, peaking in 1995 when a record number of Discos were made. Now 25 years have passed, so I thought it appropriate to look back on the evolution of the vehicle.

The Series I ran until 1998, production amounted to 384,323 (I took 20,000 units off the 1998 figure to give to the Series II). That was a very fine effort for a new model, which took a few years to establish itself.

The Series II followed in the latter part of 1998, running to early 2004. It was similar in appearance to its predecessor, perhaps too much so.

Taking into account the shared year with LR3, (only counting 10,000 units for 2004), 271,026 vehicles were made.

The Series III/IV was a better and more modern looking looking SUV, while retaining an obvious resemblance. The Series III ran from early 2004 until 2009, when replaced by the IV, which is not in my opinion a new model but an upgrade. 414,011 have been made according to my estimation.

The total production as listed is 1,069,360 units. Bear in mind that the 2013 is an estimate, albeit a fairly accurate one. Also, the chart below shows a Discovery commercial vehicle column which is largely empty. This is because while the Discovery has had a small run of CVs, I only have a few years of numbers for them. For that reason, the CV figures are not included in the total figure mentioned above.

Now to explain the chart. Under 'Disco' is production less CVs. 'Tot Prod' is all models made that are classified as private vehicles. '% Tot' represents the percentage of Discovery production compared to the 'Tot Prod' figure. The 'D CV' shows the limited Discovery CV production data I have. Finally, 'LR CV' is production of commercial vehicles, which is not included in 'Tot Prod' figure.

The Discovery model has been a popular and successful model for LR. It seems LR wants to turn the Discovery into a range like Range Rover, making the Freelander part of that. That may be to distance it from the Defender, making that the only Land Rover model, if and when a replacement comes for that. Why can't they leave well alone?



Disco Tot Prod % Tot D CV LR CV

1989 3,296 31,803 10%
23,437

1990 23,067 47,261 49%
21,210

1991 19,261 35,673 54%
18,915

1992 24,312 39,743 61%
17,626

1993 35,744 50,524 71%
17,368

1994 54,499 71,758 76%
22,240

1995 69,904 99,533 70%
27,573

1996 66,388 96,894 69%
32,582

1997 59,053 106,929 55%
36,140

1998 48,799 149,324 33%
31,704

1999 54,801 154,327 36%
24,155

2000 56,364 159,997 35%
15,611

2001 41,788 139,005 30%
13,796

2002 43,030 155,412 28%
16,710

2003 45,043 147,545 31%
14,630

2004 41,668 149,764 28% 675 14,090

2005 56,169 175,879 32%
11,747

2006 50,633 175,714 29%
13,663

2007 43,919 232,625 19% 620 2,099

2008 35,035 185,931 19% 350 3,536

2009 20,982 114,596 18% 215 2,128

2010 39,002 182,984 21% 375 5,931

2011 45,742 238,237 19%
2,862

2012 45,161 305,467 15%
6,281

2013 45,700 340,290 13%
6,500

All data is collected by myself and not obtained from LR. Therefore it is as accurate as I can make it, and I believe it is very close to LR official statistics, if they were available. 

22 February 2014

UK Car Sales Local vs Import: 1981-2013

128,000 Ford Sierras were made in the UK in 1983 

Comparing the locally made and imported share of the UK market (1960-80 can be accessed by clicking here), the 1980's were pretty stable. Therefore I didn't add those years to the list below. So how did these decades pan out?

1980's: Despite the market growing well in this period, local car makers grew even faster. This was a better time for UK car production as local percentage went from 41% in 1981 to 44% in 1990. The Metro and 200 models from BL were doing well, the Ford's Fiesta and Escort were rolling out of Dagenham in goodly numbers, Vauxhall were doing fine with the Astra and Cavalier models while Nissan had arrived and was ramping up Bluebird production. It looked like a corner had been turned.

The Rover Metro/100 was a winner for UK customers. She looks happy

1990's: Remember, this is a soap opera and there is always plenty of twists in such shows. The good was that Toyota (Carina & Corolla) and Honda (Accord & Civic) arrived, while Nissan had added the Micra. Vauxhall was doing well with the Vectra and Astra. However, most of that production was for export. The Rover Group (formerly BL) was more a local car maker than exporter, and that was in decline. BMW had bought it mid decade and frankly made a mess of it (see the proof by clicking here). So the 90's ended up with just 26% locally made.

Always popular in Britain

2000's: Domestically made cars in the UK took a tumble this decade. The Phoenix Consortium took some of the Rover Group and created MG Rover. It soon withered and went belly up. Ford and Peugeot decided to end car making in the UK. Ford continued with design work and engine building which compensated, but PSA cynically moved to Slovakia. BMW did get things very right with the MINI, Land Rover had a blossoming range of vehicles and the Japanese car makers showed loyalty by sticking with the UK (PSA take note). Nevertheless, much of this was for export and the UK production share in its home market nearly touched a mere 10%.

2010's: With the history lesson nearly over, the last three years of the chart showed small but encouraging signs. The Nissan Qashqai has helped with UK citizens almost taking it as their own (local design and manufacture not enough for some), as too the Juke model (Note & Leaf also made in Sunderland).

The Nissan Qashqai. As British as fish 'n chips and a pint 

Summary: The British car maker's share of their local market has been truly a soap opera. With Vauxhall only making one model now, Ford (also seen as a UK Brand) not actually making cars there, and MG Rover well gone, the import will continue to dominate. It's hard for most in the UK to see Nissan, Toyota and Honda as local producers to support. MINI, Land Rover and Jaguar are seen that way of course, with only some moaning about these being foreign owned. I say be glad for what you have. The industry could have died off completely.


Yr Total Local % local Import % impt

91 1,592,326 631,824 39.7% 960,502 60.3%

92 1,593,601 707,579 44.4% 886,022 55.6%

93 1,779,296 814,173 45.8% 965,123 54.2%

94 1,911,933 854,124 44.7% 1,057,809 55.3%

95 1,945,366 763,246 39.2% 1,182,120 60.8%

96 2,025,450 760,731 37.6% 1,264,719 62.4%

97 2,170,725 738,494 34.0% 1,432,231 66.0%

98 2,247,403 729,217 32.4% 1,518,186 67.6%

99 2,197,615 649,279 29.5% 1,548,336 70.5%

00 2,221,647 578,462 26.0% 1,643,185 74.0%

01 2,458,769 598,151 24.3% 1,860,618 75.7%

02 2,563,631 582,266 22.7% 1,981,365 77.3%

03 2,579,050 513,798 19.9% 2,065,252 80.1%

04 2,567,269 467,160 18.2% 2,100,109 81.8%

05 2,439,717 411,245 16.9% 2,028,472 83.1%

06 2,344,864 335,992 14.3% 2,008,872 85.7%

07 2,404,007 349,108 14.5% 2,054,899 85.5%

08 2,131,795 318,033 14.9% 1,813,762 85.1%

09 1,994,999 237,226 11.9% 1,757,773 88.1%

10 2,030,846 309,024 15.2% 1,721,822 84.8%

11 1,941,253 219,134 11.3% 1,722,119 88.7%

12 2,044,609 252,875 12.4% 1,791,734 87.6%

13 2,264,737 308,367 13.6% 1,956,370 86.4%

Data source: The SMMT I assume is the original source.

21 February 2014

UK Car Sales Local vs Import: 1960-80

I always liked statistics and cars. The Internet allowed me to bring them together for an interesting hobby. I was also given some sage advice about hobbies, that was don't get too broad in scope but specialise. I have kept to makes rather than models, and I have focused on one area in particular, the UK car industry. It's checkered history is like a soap opera.

Mk II Cortina. c. 290,000 were made in the UK in 1967

With that in mind, now that 'frenetic January' has passed and the 2013 annual data has been shared with you all, I will try to give 1960's to today coverage of the UK car making industry, interspersed with other articles in case that is not your cup of tea. Starting with 1960-80, I collected data for sales and production separately and while generally OK, it did raise the odd flag.

The fine looking Hillman Hunter. c. 140,000 were made in 1969

1960s: Why did sales of locally made cars drop so much in 1961? (See chart below) The two manufacturers I have data for, Rootes (mainly Hillman) and Vauxhall had sizable reductions in production, over 100,000 between them. Still, I am sure imports didn't leap and fall quite like that, so the data may be in need of slight refinement. Anyway, normal dominance by locally made cars returned until 1969/70 when local cars started to lose share. Vauxhall dropped suddenly again and BL's formation around that time and the rationalisations that took place impacted as well.

In 1971, a record 318,500 Minis were made in the UK

1970s: UK sales increased rapidly in the early 70's but that wasn't matched by local production. Ford was reducing the models it made locally through that decade and BL's lack of investment in R&D was hurting its sales. Chrysler Europe - which now owned Rootes - lost money, the owner's interest and production volume. It was sold off to Peugeot in 1978. Vauxhall's car range was now poor (due to inept management) and models were being pruned, production naturally plummeting.

The Chevette came along in 1975 and improved Vauxhall's poor image


Yr Total Local % local Import  % imp

60 820,088 782,839 95.5% 37,249 4.5%

61 756,054 633,223 83.8% 122,831 16.2%

62 800,239 704,502 88.0% 95,737 12.0%

63 1,030,694 992,112 96.3% 38,582 3.7%

64 1,215,929 1,188,257 97.7% 27,672 2.3%

65 1,148,718 1,094,478 95.3% 54,240 4.7%

66 1,091,217 1,047,635 96.0% 43,582 4.0%

67 1,143,015 1,049,417 91.8% 93,598 8.2%

68 1,144,770 1,139,365 99.5% 5,405 0.5%

69 965,410 945,439 97.9% 19,971 2.1%

70 1,076,865 950,627 88.3% 126,238 11.7%

71 1,285,661 1,020,846 79.4% 264,815 20.6%

72 1,637,775 1,293,832 79.0% 343,943 21.0%

73 1,661,639 1,148,505 69.1% 513,134 30.9%

74 1,271,009 969,900 76.3% 301,109 23.7%

75 1,196,185 751,476 62.8% 444,709 37.2%

76 1,288,092 837,653 65.0% 450,439 35.0%

77 1,323,525 852,994 64.4% 470,531 35.6%

78 1,591,941 756,567 47.5% 835,374 52.5%

79 1,716,275 660,334 38.5% 1,055,941 61.5%

80 1,513,661 564,599 37.3% 949,062 62.7%

Summary: The 1960's were a time of success for the industry. By the 70's, lack of investment was catching and undermining the good done a decade before. Imports had gone from 4.5% in 1960 to 62.7% in 1980. Blasé management coupled with militant workers led to a decline that was precipitous. The soap opera was in full swing.

PS. As I live far away from the UK, some local residents may wish to express their pennies worth. Perhaps distance can bring some objectivity though.