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. 

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.

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.