7:38 am, February 16, 2024
JLR’s lead times for new vehicles have dropped back to more ‘acceptable, manageable and reasonable’ levels following a period of supply chain volatility, its managing director has said.
Patrick McGillycuddy told Car Dealer at the launch of the firm’s new Range Rover Sport SV in Portugal that buyers looking for a new Range Rover would now be looking at a six to nine-month wait time for a new vehicle, as a result of ‘better production volume’ and improved car allocation.
‘The good news for our clients is we’ve been able to get more production of Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender and therefore lead times have dropped accordingly.
‘So Range Rover, you would have been 18 to 24 months lead time last summer. Since January, we have been able to say a six to nine-month lead time which we think is far more acceptable, manageable and reasonable.’
He added that previous supply chain issues – which saw JLR’s backlog of orders soar to over 205,000 cars in October 2022 – did cause some cancellations, with ‘about one per cent’ of the firm’s order bank ditching their vehicle as a result of lead times being too long.
McGillycuddy said that during the height of the semiconductor crisis, JLR couldn’t be ‘precise’ with its order times, but added that it can now ‘deliver on that promise of six to nine months’ when a customer orders a new vehicle.
The JLR boss also touched upon the firm’s recent switch to a ‘House of Brands’ structure, which has seen key pillars established – Defender, Range Rover, Discovery and Jaguar – all within their own different areas, with the traditional Land Rover name ditched from the majority of areas.
However, McGillycuddy confirmed that the four pillars would remain under one roof for the foreseeable, rather than separated into different sites.
‘It’s allowing Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar to really stand as their own brands.
‘I think we’ve made great strides in the last 12 months since we’ve officially announced the House of Brands strategy.’
He added that ‘when we come to our retailer partners’ the brands adopt a ‘consistent look and feel to all of our teammates’ and cited the firm’s recent Swansea flagship site as an example of how customers are ‘made to feel at ease’ and allowed to decide rather than being made to ‘go left or go right’ towards a particular brand.
