How sad to see Sunak travelling to see the King with a 'NGE ROVER' in the convoy.

explain? ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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Who, me?

not you , kevin... ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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 Fuji White / Jet 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster

Armoured Audi though - nice

Thanks Andy.

To be fair the cost of those genuine badges is terrible so maybe its a new cost cutting measure.

It’s a new special option …..

Nigel’s General Election ROVER

What is it with the creeping “Audi-isation”?

First, the Royal Family start ditching the cars built by the country they are meant to represent (although, they are German, so there’s some perverse logic there), but who does that belong to?

Seems like Audi are making significant inroads into what was JLR territory.

King Charlie is apparently an Audi fan & has given them a Royal Warrant. Seems it's a 3 year deal with favourable terms for the extended royal family.

The PM's car was changed to an armoured A8L around 2022 IIRC - no more Jag XJ's being made.

If the King and the PM can’t even see the value of promoting the products of their own country, where does that leave us?

I have absolutely no time for the Royal Family anymore, but the PM turning up in an Audi, rather than a Range Rover, speaks volumes

I agree that they should use FFRR's but I'm biassed

It was apparently a Met Police decision, though I'm sure there was political involvement. They wanted large saloons, that met a certain bulletproof spec. As the Jaguar sentinels were no longer in production & there was no other UK alternative, they went with Audi.

Red Merle wrote:

If the King and the PM can’t even see the value of promoting the products of their own country, where does that leave us? ………. but the PM turning up in an Audi, rather than a Range Rover, speaks volumes

I don’t think it’s as simple as that statement would suggest. As Alastair has quite correctly noted, and in the case of the PM specifically, the cars that are procured is almost certainly a few steps removed from their sphere of influence. Not least because we’ve had had how many in the last few years?? I mean if dear old Liz Truss had insisted on an armoured Rolls Royce (also German) we’d be in a right financial mess.

The FF being used is I think already 5 years old, if there’s no future options then there’s not a lot of choice unless we go all Trumpian about it. Gone are the days when a PM had their pick of great British marques that could impress any foreign leader as they waft their way through London - nearly all our once great brands are regrettably owned by companies outside the UK.

And so that brings us to the politics of these things. Tata is an Indian company, whilst their involvement in UK industry might be multi faceted and significant, you also I suspect (if you are the King or the British Government for example) have to consider the current “optics” of that choice. The war in Ukraine has revealed some curious and often conflicting alliances, and I would suggest that India has not exactly covered themselves in glory with the continuing support for Russian oil and wider trade arrangements. Would this have influenced the decision making in the UK?? Who knows.

I would guess that the practicalities highlighted by Alistair far outweigh the rather more nuanced angle of the politics but whatever the reasoning it’s a little bit sad all round that these great cars are not taking centre stage as they deserve.

I’ll get my tin hat ready