Reading the posts, i can see a common thread, what people should realise is that when Land Rover introduced their product they were the only company doing so on such a scale. Jeep produced a large number of vehicles, but these were competing in an entirely different market; Land Rover had dominance in most of the world markets, most of these were the British Empire, and former colonies. Familiarity with the Land Rover product is what kept the sales figures high for so long, with this typical arrogance of the then British industry, they turned out shoddy products and did not bother developing new or improved products with the profits. Most of these profits went into dodgy deals with suppliers, and as bonuses to what we would term FAT CATS today.
Throw into the mix, no real competition, buyers could only really buy Land Rover if they wanted true off road ability, and the capability to repair it anywhere in the field, this is why the armies bought them for so long. Greedy workers, constant strikes, dodgy dealings, and fat cat bosses led to the current situation.
Typical examples of this can be seen with the Range Rover, a niche market with no opposition, instead of developing the brand they kept virtually the same vehicle until 1983. Two door, petrol engines, a choice of manual or auto boxes, that was it; want diesel, forget it, want 5 doors, forget it, keep banging it out.
Enter Toyota and Nissan into the fray, do you want petrol or diesel sir, three of five doors sir, manual or automatic sir, long or short wheelbase sir, do you want it for the family, or is it a working vehicle sir, we do a number of body styles sir, this says it all. Why don't we buy Land Rover? because many other vehicles do it better, cheaper, and reliably.
Daihatsu are a typical example, take the knowledge which makes a good off roader, incorporate it into one vehicle, make it at a reasonable price, and make it reliable; thats why we buy them instead of Land Rovers.

Sorry about getting on my soap box, but as a patriotic Englishman, and a senior manager, it grieves me to see this country develop so much, then give it away to everyone else, particularly to the detriment of British industry.

I actually did some off road testing for a well known off roading magazine of the day, it involved a Defender, Land Cruiser, and Nissan Patrol. Results were interesting as the conclusion was that off road the Patrol won the day, it never got stuck, whereas the Defender did, but less times than the landcruiser.
This made me sit up and take notice, particularly as the off road course was testing for any out of the box vehicle, and all were brand new with only running in mileage on them. Several of the other testers were LR men, they made several excuses ranging from tyres to driving style, but as all were out of the box vehicles it made little difference. I made one casual remark, this was they were used to driving Defenders so there should be no excuse for it losing, as they were the supposed experts, and they should have got the Patrol stuck, which they did not.

If i had to make a choice it would be the Patrol, equal or better off road ability than a defender, and rather than a poor ride, i would prefer the leather seats, climate control on, and with my favourite CD's playing on the multi stack system.