Originally Posted by The Insider

What do you mean by make customers whole? Are you suggesting that we advertised the feature for 2023 and then took it away after orders were placed?

Generally, our strategy is to add features and content while maintaining competitive price levels with each passing year. This has been the approach in recent years, and in the case of certain models like the Jaguar XF we've cut prices dramatically while boosting standard equipment. We are even considering standardizing towing packages on all D7u/x platforms. However, the supply chain disaster and limited production have forced us to make odd and uneven decisions on random parts of the vehicle.

If we sent a notice to our customers saying production of their Defender will be delayed 8-10 months because we are missing a soft close latch motor (or other minor feature) that would not go over well.

We're an extremely customer oriented company and regularly hold meetings to address customer concerns. In fact, senior executives recently travelled to the US market just to sit down and meet with new Defender owners and ask for feedback and ideas for improvement. However, sometimes we have to do the best we can and continue moving forward even if things aren't ideal.

Arguably, as Defender is a utilitarian vehicle you could make the case that soft close latches have no place on it, but that's a separate discussion.

Originally Posted by MattF

The supply chain "disasters" are JLRs and JLRs alone, not the customers. And with no real transparency into the supply chain issues who knows. To hold an expectations that it's acceptable to negatively impact the customer without sharing any of the impact or responsibility seems at best a poor business decision.

Most if not all auto manufactures are having challenges with their supply chains. The good ones are ensuring they're treating their customers as valued and partnering in an equitable manner.

Oh and on the configurator today Defender 110 S = "11.4" Touchscreen" - Just saying

Matt

Originally Posted by The Insider

The soft close rear door issue is an ongoing internal battle. Eliminating it for 2023 MY frees up some production and allows us to keep the assembly line moving. Expect to see it return in the future (especially if new owners start complaining and writing letters). For now, we have some constraints that don't allow us to consistently fit the soft close on the rear.