[epirali]

https://www.carscoops.com/2019/04/2...r-i-pace-is-the-big-winner-with-three-awards/

 

[dtgsrq]

Just checked news, and you beat me to posting it. Here's another (CNBC) angle. Not only 2019 WCOTY, but swept Best Design and Best Green Car.

Too bad JLR is having trouble selling them. If this doesn't prompt a MAJOR advertising campaign re-boot, their CMO should be fired.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/jaguar-i-pace-electric-suv-sweeps-awards-at-new-york-auto-show.html

 

[sgtpeper]

Hopefully, it also pushes them to get software updates out the door a bit quicker as well.

 

[sciencegeek]

Yeah if they don't capitalize on that they have their heads in their arses

 

[sciencegeek]

Maybe Eberhardt will be a bit more enthusiastic about the iPace now ... this sounds a little better than the comments he made some weeks ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=24&v=3uk1qm6wPos

 

[Sbingham60]

JLR is still in a bit of reorganizational turmoil, partly driven by Brexit - https://www.theguardian.com/busines...nd-rover-begins-brexit-shutdown-as-sales-fall
Outside of the shutdown, they are trimming jobs in the UK. Even though the I-Pace is built in Austria, the development and marketing teams have a big presence in the UK.

Things should settle a bit by the end of April at headquarters.

 

[Mister Dave]

 

[JonB]

"Electronics based" problems

So, JLR's CEO admits in his interview for CNBC after iPace wins Car of the Year in the USA, that the major part of Land Rover's consistently appalling reliability and dependability stats in the USA ,where the brand comes out at the bottom or near the bottom of all surveys, are "electronics based".

In his words having admitted that incontrovertible fact, he says "we (now) have a programme in place to fundamentally transform that part of the business."

Good news then in one sense, but anyone with half a business brain has to ask how on earth JLR has got themselves into that position in the first place, when competitive like brands like MB or BMW are way ahead of the game, not to mention Tesla's software. And then one can't help but lament that JLR has managed to import all or most of these "electronics based" issues into a vehicle which would otherwise be a whole-hearted star of the luxury vehicle business with no proviso's at all, the iPace!

Surely there has to be some heavy questioning about the competence of those in this part of the business and at least some heads should roll.

 

[Mister Dave]

Really good EEs are hard to find, but competent desk pilots tasked with leading them are nearly impossible to find. JLR doesn't have this issue in isolation. The same goes for SEs.

For the uninitiated...

Electrical Engineer
Software Engineer

 

[JonB]

Really good EEs are hard to find, but competent desk pilots tasked with leading them are nearly impossible to find. JLR doesn't have this issue in isolation. The same goes for SEs.

For the uninitiated...

Electrical Engineer
Software Engineer

Simple. You poach the best from your competitors by paying them more.

 

[epirali]

Simple. You poach the best from your competitors by paying them more.

And this creates EXACTLY the problem we have now. They are all used to being overpaid, moving from job to job to make more, and there is a lack of dedicated engineers for tasks. And new ones coming up no longer want to learn the hard way, they just want to be "poached" over and over and make more and more money without having the commiserate skills or talent.

Trust me, I have dealt with this issue in a much smaller scale for at least the past 5 years.

 

[Mister Dave]

Simple. You poach the best from your competitors by paying them more.

To add to Epirali's points, this is how you develop a Helter-Skelter development/management plan. It turns into an ugly late-term abortion. Meanwhile everyone's playing CYA. "It wasn't MY idea!" and no one 'owns' the plan.

 

[JonB]

And this creates EXACTLY the problem we have now. They are all used to being overpaid, moving from job to job to make more, and there is a lack of dedicated engineers for tasks. And new ones coming up no longer want to learn the hard way, they just want to be "poached" over and over and make more and more money without having the commiserate skills or talent.

Trust me, I have dealt with this issue in a much smaller scale for at least the past 5 years.

Trust me. I work in a business where top talent is just as much in short supply, and not on a smaller scale either, so I do know what I am talking about. And, with all due respect you also missed out the most crucial word in my entire post. That word is BEST. No point in poaching non dedicated folk without the skills or talent obviously, but you head hunt the very best to lead your team(s) and you fill those teams with SE's and EE's who have proven talent, but maybe at a lower level of experience. And you create a corporate culture where only the best will do and where there is a genuine desire to compete with the very best other manufacturers.


For some years JLR seems to have allowed a culture to exist where they are putting out into the market place infotainment systems and software which simply aren't up to par and now the CEO is admitting as much. That's the kind of corporate culture which can irreperably damage a brand. As the saying goes, it takes years to build brand credibility and loyalty and only a week to destroy it.

 

[Mister Dave]

Trust me. I work in a business where top talent is just as much in short supply, and not on a smaller scale either, so I do know what I am talking about. And, with all due respect you also missed out the most crucial word in my entire post. That word is BEST. No point in poaching non dedicated folk without the skills or talent obviously, but you head hunt the very best to lead your team(s) and you fill those teams with SE's and EE's who have proven talent, but maybe at a lower level of experience. And you create a corporate culture where only the best will do and where there is a genuine desire to compete with the very best other manufacturers.

You have good points here, but there can be only one of these. My money is on Benz to have the working capital to attempt it in the automotive world.

The reality is usually very far from the ideal, even for the top echelon in any endeavor. The BEST gets moved around within the firm as the focus on the top floor shifts.

 

[bruintoo]

Makes my daily drudge of a commute through Los Angeles traffic more enjoyable, fosho!

 

[bruintoo]

https://fast.wistia.com/embed/iframe/vai3z2x8sf

 

[Mister Dave]

https://fast.wistia.com/embed/iframe/vai3z2x8sf

Um, yeah. The NOT BEST car maker won didn't they? Must've done some thing or two really right, eh?

 

[JonB]

Um Yeah. I can do sarcasm as good as the next man or woman if that’s what you want.

But maybe better to read people’s posts and THINK before you try to be clever. What I was referring to was the software and the infotainment that bedevils JLR vehicles and which you don’t have to go further than this or the UK forum to see how poor it is on the iPace. And then to go back to my original post, when the CEO of the company admits that the Landrover stats making it bottom or near the bottom of the reliability charts is down to software, then there is most certainly a point to be made.

That the iPace is good enough to win all the awards it has in spite of the poor infotainment software is a testament to how really good the car is, but imagine an iPace with the best software in the luxury vehicle market. It would blow the competition out of the market.

As it is I love my iPace to drive and it is way better than any luxury car I have owned - and I have been an MB owner for the last 25 plus years - but frankly the infotainment just isn’t good enough. But then, if you own an iPace or a JLR vehicle of any sort, you don’t need me to tell you this.

So my message: Humor makes the world go round and I love it but sarcasm that isn’t even addressing what has been said is just plain lazy.

 

[Mister Dave]

That the iPace is good enough to win all the awards it has in spite of the poor infotainment software is a testament to how really good the car is, but imagine an iPace with the best software in the luxury vehicle market. It would blow the competition out of the market.

I think every I-Pace owner who has had trouble is imagining software upgrades. I imagine that they'll get them too.

Others aren't having trouble. One gentleman started a thread about his lack of issues. Wish I could find it now.......

I'm imagining the perfect car made by the perfect company who pays perfect wages in a perfect working environment. Sorry if you don't like sarcasm but if we're handing out advice I'll suggest avoiding the internet, being a little less demanding of everyone and everything else, and whatever you're sitting on might be a little uncomfortable. It's even more lazy to point fingers from a pedestal.

Blowing the competition out of the market is unlikely. Tastes in cars are more subjective than many will admit. If price were no object I'd be in the next Porsche on the next boat. It's the sexiest thing yet, in my eyes and I'd take it warts and all. Some people think any and every [pick one - I'm not using the T word this time] is the bomb.

The point, sarcasm or otherwise is that the glass is half full or half empty. This was started as a glass half full thread. No car can be a full glass. They're made by ....*gasp*.... people.

However, since you have made it clear you're especially sensitive to sarcasm, I'll try to keep that in mind in the future if it makes you more comfortable. I'm sure you're as nice of a guy as anyone else, so I really will keep your sensitivity in mind.

 

[sciencegeek]

https://fast.wistia.com/embed/iframe/vai3z2x8sf

Ian Callum is great. He so deserves this. Now if the CEO and the marketing guys could just please step it up.