Sure. But here is how I personally look at things. For me its not about the sales for LR, rather I am purely interested in what it is that they are creating for me as a customer in the form of their products.
Its more about what is it that I am getting for my $80k+. For that amount, am I really getting a product thats worth that price tag?
When I was looking at the full size RR as a replacement for my LR4 after the D5 vision/concept reveal, I gave the full size RR a hard look and tried to convince myself that it may work for me. But to me the RR was not an "SUV", as its been advertised, worth a hundred grand in any way. But it may have been worth a hundred grand plus for me if I was in the market looking for a great, luxurious AWD sedan with higher center of gravity (sort of like prestige/luxury version of a Subaru type of sedan) and if the RR was advertised/marketed as such.
After looking at the RR, I paid the visit to the lexus dealership for a close look at their LX570 as well. Did not fit the bill for me, but compared to the RR, it was certainly worth more percentage of its asking MSRP due to its well known reliability, durability, and longevity factors.
But to others, a $100k+ RR would be the perfect fit for their needs with just the idea alone that "Even though I will never take it offroad but its nice to know that the capability is there because the LR TV ad says so" and it may make them feel accomplished and better about themselves, etc. And if that works for them, thats perfectly fine.
Except that these target LR customers, due to their short usage/ownership cycle rate per unit purchase/lease, may not be fully aware of the real world fact that with LR products, there is another reality that follows the idea of "its nice to know that the capability is there". And that reality is that "Its also nice to know that the very much needed reliability, durability, longevity, and functionality, dictated by this available and heavily advertised capability, are not really there," So taking these things offroad, specially with the two available inches of sidewall and the likely hood of parts failing, you may very well end up needing a tow truck to make it back from that advertised "Beyond" place of interest.
Therefore the sales charts could mean anything and many things. They could also mean that the the LR customers in general are quite passive and dont really have the time to communicate, and that they are quite happy and are comfortable with spending their cash on things that partly fulfill their needs/requirements, knowing or without knowing.
And its a perfect world for the current LR execs and thats the world they'd like to live in, because it serves them perfectly well for their bottom lines.
In other words, its better for LR that their target customer remains unaware of the fact that in reality, in addition to purchasing their vehicle, what other basic things are required (reliability and durability, snow rubber, more sidewall, etc,) if you really want to take your SUV to the LR advertised environments/terrains/weather, without cutting a sidewall or being stranded. And if you pay attention to those legal disclaimers (that fine print at the bottom of the TV screen that LR knows nobody really reads) on LR ads, you will know that whats being shown to you is not really the reality. Those legal disclaimers are there for good reasons.
But its also this very heritage/legacy idea of being able to go to these places that LR heavily relies and leans on to differentiate its products from other manufacturers. Hence the need to keep hanging on to the green oval 4x4 heritage even though their products do not reflect this heritage any more in any real world sense.
And they also know that their average customer will not keep their products for more than a certain and a very short duration of time. So the quality of the parts/fit/finish and the build quality just needs to be barely enough for their vehicles to be able to pass those couple of abuse runs by the press with cameras for PR and to be able to sustain mild urban use/shopping mall runs for those three to four years of ownership. Hence the worn out bushings (and the lack of any innovation in bushings to maintain the James Bond personality) only after a few offroad runs, and this ever looming fear of failing parts.
Just to give you an example of falling quality levels at LR over the years, the black trim pieces that sit at the bottom edge of the rear doors (on my pampered, always parked under shade, mostly average 70F, MY16 LR4) started to buckle/warp only after three years of ownership. So outta curiosity I would look for the same buckling on other LR4s in the area to check if thats the case on them as well. And sure nuff, most of them are showing the same buckling/warping most recent MY LR4s I saw. This kinda quality fail never occurred on my 06 LR3 which I kept for six years and put on near 50k miles in east coast' and then west coast' varying harsh weather conditions and was my daily for the entire duration of ownership.
I made it a point to look for that buckling on any LR3 I'd spot around town. And so far have not come any LR3 showing the buckling of those trim pieces even after those being on the street for about fourteen years now.
Had the service install the new part, same crap. It could be anything, reduced quality level on the newer batch of parts, install sub-parts/item, etc.
And there are other examples like that, and thats the kinda **** that you can just gauge from as far as parts/vendor/material QC levels at LR. I mean I paid $65k for this luxury/prestige brand product, should a simple black trim plastic piece that was originally designed fourteen years ago, which still looks great on fourteen year old LR3s, fail on later versions only after three years of service? Or should it mature, get better, and be perfected simply because its been manufactured over and over by now.
And I have seen such examples of cutting corners on the new Defender as well unfortunately. And I am being asked around $80k for that thing
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That is exactly why the sales charts are not indicative of anything for me at least, specially of the level of quality and real world functionality of LR products. The product(s) itself is what which speaks and is what I am interested in as a customer, regardless of what their sales are, good or bad.
Just because its selling well, does not mean its a quality product worth the asking price tag.
For me its what am I really paying this LR premium for? Am I paying this premium for just this legacy and now impractical idea of being able to go "Above & Beyond" or am I really only paying for the that heritage bearing green oval?
And last I heard LR was in quite a bit of trouble and were very much depending on the new Defender. I experienced this worry first hand at the LR private event after chatting with MrGovern and NA CEO (cant remember his name). During our conversation I noticed this deep sense of humility and genuine concern, among other odd things, that they are heavily relying on the sales of the new Defender to bring the brand back up on its feet.
