5.0 sums it very good but I can’t agree with the part of “they really don’t give a damn”.
There are several problems and it’s not only the chip shortage, bigger issue are the line outputs in the Body In White factory at the Solihull plant. I hope I can explain it on a understandable manner as English is not my mother tongue and struggle to explain non business related topics.

The factory has 4 BIW (Body In White / Weld-Rivet Factory), BS01 (previously L405 and now stopped), BS02 (Previously L405 & Discovery and now L460 and L461), BS03 (F-Pace and Velar) and T5 (previously OLD Defender).
JLR started to invested a lot of money in 2017/18 by moving out the Discovery from the BS02 to JLR Nitra in Slovakia and the L405 to the speeded up BS01, then striped out all the BS02 to accommodate the L460/461 (MHEV, PHEV and BEV) machinery. All was going well till the Diesel issues and Chinese Dealer issues caused a bit of a down in the sales, with the Jaguar brand not performing very well JLR started to lose money but the new Models were still developed as planned.
The real struggle started in 2019, the Machine Designs were ready all site activities were planned to start and Covid-19 kicked in. As JLR was already in need for money and needed a lot of more money for their new models they started to stop some of the projects. First the new Jaguar XJ, The Road Rover and then the J-Pace were cancelled, leaving the Castle Bromwich plant only with the Jaguar XE, XF and F-Type. Saved money went into the much more needed Range Rovers in Solihull.

As a cost saving JLR themselves asked the Line Builders to delete some of the expensive equipment and replace this by alternatives. Please do not understand me wrong, the savings were done on the machines and has no impact on the Build quality. What I try to explain is as cost saving is for example a part position recognition/correction on a Robot, a lot of Robots are picking parts out of stillages to drop into fixtures where other robots are welding or riveting. As the Stillages (frames where parts are loaded in another place and brought by Forklifts to the zones) are a lot and each of them will be a bit different because of the manipulations by the forklifts. To compensate those differences, cameras are installed on the robot so they can correct their picking positions according to the differences. To produce you don’t need the camera but will give you less faults that need manipulation by the maintenance and having a bigger output close to the theory.

The Idea from JLR was then to implement those things later themselves, but the Chip shortage is not only for the car manufacturer but also for the machine manufacturer that is needed to build the cars. Now some electronic components has a lead time from 18 months instead of 2 weeks.

To compensate now the less production JLR is investing a lot of money (all not completely foreseen) to build parallel lines, BS02 will continue to build L460/L460LWB (MHEV and PHEV), BS01 will be refurbished to build additional L461 and the T5 will build the BEV models. All those works were, according to my knowledge, not foreseen and is just to accommodate the huge demand. Also because of the unstable production there is no easy way to plan the just in time deliveries such as the Sound Systems, seats, bumpers and other expensive components. Adding the Chip Shortage doesn’t make it easier. So I’m sure that JLR knows what is really going on and they do there ultimate best to deliver everybody as quick as possible. Dealers on the other hand don’t know what to tell or can’t tell what is really happening. At the end they make more money by servicing them.

I had even sworn not to buy any Land Rover (because of Dealer issues during warranty repairs) and went after my RR to Mercedes but there is nothing on the marked that has the same feeling as a RR (not for me at least).
During my project in the US I had the new Cadillac Escalade, BMW X7, Mercedes GLS and a GMC Yukon Denali (all rentals). They were all nice but not the same feeling of RR. In my opinion there is nothing close to a RR, maybe I’m suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome and will regret again once I have it, anyway I will stick on my P510e order and will wait till whenever it will be delivered. JLR needs our deposits more then ever but I also don't like the price increases and should not be done for deposited cars (my opinion). According to the dealer I will not get any date till after new year.
I don’t see another solution. Hope this info will help a little bit and sorry for the long text.

A very interesting insight volcan1975. Thanks.

I can well believe that JLR are wrestling with a lot more issues than just a chip shortage.

However, better communication with the customer would cost them relatively little and would go a long way to building and maintaining goodwill, and keeping the order bank full during increasingly difficult economic times. The price rises and de-contenting for deposited orders is really inexcusable though.

Thanks Volkan ; fascinating, and hi lighting that the machines need chips as much as cars is something we might forget.

Someone else has said it, very hard to find an alternative to RR. I’m larger than the average bear and I tried other cars as I didn’t want the wait…Nor did I like the price. couldn’t find anything else that suited me. In the end it’s personal choice. Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

I’ve been told that mine has been built and delivery is due in a few weeks. It’s a D350 HSE with some options ordered last November just after the launch. MY23 D350 HSE
On my 7th RR plus various other JLR vehicles

Being a spoilt brat in 2021 I placed orders for 2 cars, a 460 and a 911. I told both sales execs they were in a race.
Hold the front page, in a race Porsche beats Range Rover.
Collected the Porsche yesterday. letters not necessarily in the right order

Picked up my parents L460 P510e last Friday. Very nice, drives so much better than the L405 we currently have IMHO. Just a shame I don't have a build date for my P440e as yet and that was ordered a week before the 510.

Both dealers I've dealt with suggest vehicles are starting to come through quicker, not sure I'm convinced! 2023 Defender p400e
L460 on order
2016 Range Rover Sport gone
2011 Discovery 4 hse gone
2008 Discovery 3 hse gone
2006 Discovery 3 S gone
2004 Defender x tech gone but certainly not forgotten…..

Don't give up gentlemen, they are beginning to come through.
I may have an announcement shortly. letters not necessarily in the right order

Have you had a word with someone Dixy or are V8s starting to come through generally?

Completely past caring now to be honest..... Of course it'll be slightly better than my current 2021MY 5.0 L405, but at the end of the day it's just a car, it's not going to change my life.

Of course I'll still take delivery, but I really have lost interest now.

Sorry to be negative, but there's only so long you can get excited about a car, before you begin to tire of the idea.

Exactly where I am aja500. Especially since they started removing bits of the spec I ordered.

Thursday evening get a phone call from my sales exec. No news on your order but
I have a cancelled order, Portofino, parchment, no chav glass, D350 HSE, you can have now. We will take it back when yours arrives.
Go and see it Friday morning, car ticks all the boxes apart from not being the engine I want. Sales exec says he has no idea how long my original order will be but he suspects 6 months to a year.
Decide to go with it and complete all the paperwork and I collect it on Friday all being well.
Just as we are about to leave he says I have not logged in yet today, lets just have a look. Oh I dont believe it, yours is slotted for build in March. letters not necessarily in the right order

Dixy, fantastic news, they are playing fair.

I’ suppose you were going to buy a phev, I, sure the D350 will keep you happy until then. So much so you may not want to give the car back

Report back and a picture maybe next weekend ??? Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

The D350 is a good engine. I had one for a couple of weeks whilst by P530 was in for some ‘challenges’. It suits the L460.

Has anyone heard of the factory bulletin that went out last week saying that they were ramping up production?