Funny how things turn out- these two manufacturers would be purchased by Ford and sold to the Indians together. For now, and these two articles, we’re not quite there yet.
Scanned from R&T’s 1987 November issue, it’s the Rangie first:
Now for the Lister-Jag, As refined as the V12 XJ-S could get:
I didn’t know you could buy a real Range Rover for $30K in the US, ever. Sure, inflation has been doing its thing for nearly 30 years since this article was written, but still. We bought a new BMW 325 in 1988. I still have the window sticker, and the base price was $25K. A 325is was $28K+. Obviously, the Range Rover wasn’t a good value at any price, but that still seems pretty inexpensive. OTOH, West German cars were of much higher quality than German cars are, and the prices they commanded were far higher than the ones German cars do today when adjusted for inflation and feature parity.
I notice it says that the XJ-S’s base price was ten grand higher than the Range Rovers. That’s a pretty big difference from today, when the cheapest stripper Range Rover is $85K and the base Jaguar F-type in $61K. The base prices for high end models are $244,500 for the Range Rover and $125,950 for the F-type Coupe. There are two other trim levels that exceed the maximum price of the Jaguar by $15K to $75K. Considering I still see many Range Rovers for every Jaguar of any description, I guess Tata is pricing them at what the market will bear. I wonder if they make any money on Jaguars.
I just finished several articles in the February issue of CAR detailing Land Rover/Range Rover and Jaguar’s future plans. As a “prelude” of sorts, Tata has been investing heavily in these 2 brands and in the last 5 years the numbers sold annually has doubled (that is, twice as many sold in 2015 as in 2010). However, the immediate goal is 1 million units worldwide….by about 2020.
And CJinSD: your eyes are not deceiving you, MORE L-R/R-Rs are sold worldwide than Jaguars by a factor of almost 2 and 1/2 to 1.
And something to think about:
When that Jaguar roadtest was published no one would have believed that in 10-15 years, Jaguar would be offering diesel powered cars and that in 25 years from that test Jaguars would be powered by 4 cylinder engines….gas AND diesel.
I’ve always liked this generation Land Rover and Range Rover. I find it an unforgivable shame, though, that neither were available here in North America with a diesel engine, let alone a turbo diesel engine.
You have that car behind Clive and his RR to blame for that. Thanks to the Oldsmobile Diesel, diesel remained a niche market for years. Ironically one of the big automakers that embraced diesel engines (VW) will be the cause of its demise with the emissions scandel.
I just don’t know if it is true or not but some people say when a Ford CEO finished his visit to the Jaguar plant, before the they bough it, he said: “Besides a truck factory I’ve been in Russia, this is the most outdated plant I’ve haver seen”
Rubens:
The “original” factory dates from 1945, so it is one of the oldest. Last year 2 factories came on stream….one in China and one in Brazil. 2 more factories will be added before 2019, one in Austria and one in Slovakia. BTW, Slovakia is a current hotspot for “high-end” SUV production as Audi and I believe M-B have factories there.
My daily driver the last 3 years, until I recently bought a Peugeot 505 diesel wagon to commute in, was a 1988 Range Rover. Fantastic vehicle. Has been super reliable, very comfortable, amazing off road and on, although as mentioned in the review, slow. Mechanical parts are easy to find, and tend to be very reasonably priced. As an example of how well it has worn, I just drove it from Houston to Vancouver WA, 2600 miles or so, with no issues. Not bad for a 28 year old unrestored truck of any make!
1987 Lister-Jaguar XJ-SC 5spd V-12
Here is mine back in the day….and now…..23k mikes as of 5/2023. 1987 Lister-Jaguar XJ-SC 5spd V-12. No luggage though. Maybe some day I will get lucky and find a dusty set in someone’s attic,