DAVE PHILLIPS

T he Voca l Yokel

SPOT THE odd one out: Land Rover Discovery, a Raleigh bicycle, Terry’s Chocolate Orange, HP sauce, a Dyson vacuum cleaner and Sarson’s vinegar. Answer: Discovery – it’s the only one of these quintessentially British brands that’s still actually made in Britain.

But not for long. Like Rayleigh (to China, Bangladesh, Mexico and Sri Lanka), Terry’s (Poland), HP Sauce (Netherlands), Dyson (Malaysia) and Sarson’s (Japan), Land Rover is about to shift Discovery production abroad – in this case to a factory in Slovakia.

Is that important? Yes. Although most folk probably won’t actually be too bothered, the vast majority of the readers of this magazine care deeply. To Land Rover enthusiasts, the Britishness of the brand is a massive part of its appeal. To us, the factory in Solihull where the Land Rover story began is spoken of in hushed, reverential tones.

For over seven decades the Lode Lane factory at Solihull has been Land Rover’s spiritual home. It is something the company is well aware of – and which it isn’t at all embarrassed to cash in on. Hence the extremely lucrative heritage tours of the factory, for example.

A cynic might doubt Land Rover’s motives for its extravagant celebration of the company’s 70th birthday earlier this year. Was it because JLR genuinely felt the emotion of the occasion, or was it because it gave it a useful launching pad for the sale of the super-expensive Defender special editions that followed very closely in its wake? Yep, I’m with the cynics on that one.

Discovery is a hugely-important model for JLR. If it wasn’t for the launch of the original Disco in 1989 there wouldn’t be a Solihull factory, nor a Land Rover brand. It is the vehicle that saved the company going under. Call me a sentimental old fool if you wish, but to me that is reason enough to keep Discovery production at Solihull for ever.

So why is JLR moving Discovery production from Solihull? For financial gain, of course. The company admits that moving it to the new factory in Slovakia will slash thousands of pounds off the cost of every Disco built. It also means that 1000 or so agency workers at Solihull will be made redundant.

JLR says that relocating Discovery production will free up the space it needs at Solihull to start work on a new generation of electric-powered Range Rover models. These are the cars of the future, according to Land Rover, so how come they aren’t being built in the brand-new factory in the city of Nitra, Slovakia, which we are told has the capacity to build 300,000 cars a year?

When talking about Solihull’s future, JLR was ominously silent about the new generation of Defender models, which were pencilled in for launch this autumn. From the first Series I in 1948 through to the last of the original Defenders in 2017, Land Rover’s workhorses have always been built at Solihull. The idea of building them anywhere else is sacrilegious to fans of the green oval, but the absence of any mention of it by JLR when the plant’s future was under discussion suggests that the plan is for Defender too to be built on foreign soil.

Moving Discovery to Slovakia is the thin edge of the wedge. With Brexit looming in 2019 as well as a global trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tit-for-tat tariffs on imports and exports, JLR’S Indianowned parent company Tata is losing its confidence in Britain as a place to do business in the long term.

We shouldn’t be surprised. American-owned Ford stopped building cars in Britain in 2002. Even the iconic Transit van ceased production here in 2013. Of the top 20 best-selling cars in the UK last year, only two were wholly built in Britain: Nissan Qashqai and Juke, in Sunderland. Three more (MINI, Mercedes C- Class and Vauxhall Astra) were part-built here.

“The decision to move the Land Rover Discovery to Slovakia and the potential losses of some agency employed staff in the UK is a tough one but forms part of our long-term manufacturing strategy as we transform our business globally,” said Land Rover’s finance chief, Ken Gregor.

Yes, on paper it probably makes sense to cold-hearted money men. But to warm-hearted aficionados with bronze-green blood in our veins, we see things differently. Moving production of Land Rovers overseas will be the kiss of death for the future of the enthusiast movement.

Will Tata or JLR care? I doubt it. But I do – and I suspect you do, too.

“Moving production of Land Rover overseas will be the kiss of death for the future of the enthusiast movement”