Monkeying around
Like many, I am interested in the
Land Rover Defender replacement.
B e i n g a n e x i s t i n g c u s t ome r of t he
brand, I contacted my local dealer for
information. They confirmed that
they had no information but hoped to
obtain some in the next few months.
They mentioned that Land Rover
has a policy of asking for a £500
deposit in order to secure a place to
view the Defender at a launch event
when the information would be
available. The £500 deposit would
give a priority to order a vehicle. I
am amazed. JLR wants to take £500
from me to secure a place at a launch
event for a vehicle that it has not
issued any information on.
I seriously question its marketing
strategy. I am an existing Land Rover
customer but question its perception
of the strength of its brand and the
way it treats us.
David Ernest
Via email
Tra ci n g A1
I was interested to see reference to
t he r e g i s t r at ion nu mb e r A 1 i n t he
archive column (7 August).
Registration A1 was in our family
for a few years in the late 1970s
attached to a British Leyland Mini
- not a regular Mini but a chauffeur-
driven one with a luxury interior. The
front nearside seat had been removed
and a Chesterfield-style leather
armchair installed in the rear so the
passenger could stretch out in style.
My uncle, Sir John Dent, was MD
of Dunlop tyres at the time and,
during a period of trading losses and
subsequent cost-cutting, the usual
Daimler limo was changed to a Mini
as a (token) economy measure.
He moved on to the Civil Aviation
Authority in 1982 and I believe the
registration number transferred to a
Ford Granada owned by BTR plc.
Mark Pollard
Via email
Indy over Silverstone
Regarding the letter ‘Silverstone’s
good ol’ days’ (7 August), we couldn’t
agree more that fans are increasingly
LETTER OF THE WEEK
Winning the name game
Richard Anderson is not impressed with Lotus’s
choice of the name Evija for its new hypercar
(Your Views, 31 July). I agree. But naming is an
increasingly difficult area for car manufacturers. Abit of online research suggests Evija is a given name
of Hebrew origin, should be pronounced ‘Eviya’
and means ‘first in existence’ – which is loosely
appropriate, I suppose. But it’s still an awkward,
unattractive word that seems contrived. Perhaps
the Lotus marketing team was so excited about
the prospect of a fully electric hypercar that
they concluded the name could only start with EV.
Looking back, I think a couple of the most
attractive and appropriate names have been Cortina,
with its connotations of continental travel and upmarket sporting
activity, and Ka, a super-short name where the sharp-edged badge looked
so right on a super-short car introducing Ford’s New Edge design era.
Place names have often been used for car models, but we’re probably
running out of attractive ones that haven’t been used before. Your article
on JLR’s planned new models (News, 24 July) refers to Land Rover’s new
plant in Nitra, Slovakia. What a super name for a car. Land Rover Nitra
doesn’t quite work, but a Land Rover Defender Nitra series might.
On the topic of factory locations, I think Fiat and Ford missed a trick in
not using the name of their shared plant for one of their city cars – Tychy.
Rodger Williams
Via email
being priced out of visiting motor
racing events here in the UK. As
part of our planning for a birthday
celebration in 2020, we have looked
at a wide variety of organised trips
to a varied selection of motor racing
venues and to find that a visit to
Monaco or even Singapore for an F1
race can be sourced cheaper than a
similar one to Silverstone beggars
b e l ie f. B e a r i n g t h i s i n m i nd , w e h av e
already booked a trip to Indianapolis
for ne x t y e a r ’s I nd y 5 0 0.
Michael and Margaret Knight
Via email
Volvo’s colour blind
I have recently ordered a new Volvo
XC40 T4 Inscription but find I can’t
have it in the colour I want – even
though Volvo makes the XC40 in
that colour. Inscription is the most
expensive and luxurious specification
for this car, yet Volvo only offers it in
two greys, two blacks, a dark blue, a
silver, a brown and a white – which,
in my opinion, is a dull palette.
By contrast, the cheaper
Momentum trim includes a red,
while R Design includes a bright
blue and a red, meaning buyers
choosing the cheaper XC40 variants
get a wider choice of colours than
those spending more on the top trim.
Buyers spending more than £35,000
on a car should have a choice. Volvo’s
restriction just makes no sense.
My local Volvo dealership, Caffyns
Eastbourne, can’t get me an answer
and the only response I could get
from Volvo UK’s frosty customer
relations was: “That’s just the way it
is.” But the question of why remains.
Edmond Burchell
Via email
Jaguar exclusive
We have seen the Jaguar brand
extended and diluted in the questfor volume and profit. The SUV
and executive car segments are
particularly competitive and
dominated by huge multinational
manufacturers. Jaguar is known as
an exclusive brand with apt phrases
such as ‘Grace, space and pace’ and
known for making beautiful fast cars.
My advice would be for Jaguar
to reduce volume aspirations and
become a low-volume manufacturer
of the finest quality, really special
exclusive cars that are reassuringly
expensive and that we would
aspire to own one day.
Andrew Jeffery
Denby Dale, West Yorkshire
WIN
Letter of the week
wins this ValetPRO
exterior protection
and maintenance kit
worth £48
62 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 2 1 AUGUST 2 019
Has British GP become too exclusive?
You’ll have to pay (less) for a red XC40
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