Category: Land Rover

For the first time in its 59-year history, Land Rover has reached the 200,000 milestone with vehicles 205,717 being sold from January to November. For the month of November, the global sales increased by 27% over the same period last year and several markets like China, France, Russia and Spain recorded their best ever November.

This puts the company on course for its third successive record sales year. In 2006, the 4×4 manufacturer sold 192,500 vehicles and 184,000 vehicles in 2005.

Land Rover didn’t mention the forecasts for the next year but its Managing Director, Phil Popham, said “Confidence is high – we’re firmly in the black with innovative new products that will continue Land Rover’s sustainable development.“

The British offroad manufacturer will likely reveal a concept car at the Detroit Motor Show in order to show its green credentials and where the brand is going over the coming years.

In a previous post, we reported Tata was leading the bid over the Jaguar and Land Rover sale. One of the next stage was to meet the union and it went quite well for Tata.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the union believes Tata is the only bidder “with enough money, clout and experience”. This is quite a slap in the face for the other bidder, the partnership made between One Equity Partners and another major Indian car maker, Mahindra and Mahindra.

To tell the truth, the bid made by One Equity Partners and the M&M’s brothers look pretty scary for unions as both partner want to separate both companies. If both partners win the bid, M&M’s brothers family will take control of Land Rover while One Equity Partners gets Jaguar. But, we also remember the MG-Rover history in 2000. The union favoured the bidder which promised to keep jobs and five years later, the company collapsed.

According to Jaguar’s American dealers, the new XF is generating a strong demand. Customers who order their car now will have to wait until May even though the car goes on sale in March. A long waiting list could scare potential customers at a time where we want to have our new toy within minutes and, unfortunately, the recent lay-offs at Jaguar reduced the size of its labour force. In the current situation, Jaguar may not meet the demand.

Oddly, Land Rover might be the solution. As luck would have it, the off-road specialist owns a plant near the only remaining Jaguar plant in the Midlands. Both manufacturers’ workforces are represented by the same labour union and Jaguar’s management has seized upon this opportunity to sign a rather clever agreement with the union. From now on, employment contracts will include a “mobility” paragraph stipulating that workers can move between the two plants for up to three months at a time.

It is unknown whether Jaguar will use the new agreement for the XF launch, but this is a major selling point for the Ford Group which has put Jaguar and Land Rover up for sale. Likewise for Jaguar, it will give it enough flexibility to meet the market’s unstable demand.

According to the British car magazine Auto Express, Land Rover will launch a seven-seat version of the Freelander.

Sold in the U.S. under the name LR2, the Freelander has met with great success since it was launched at the 2006 British Motor Show. It quickly became a point of reference in the compact SUV segment, ahead of German competitors. However, Land Rover bosses think the current model may not be enough to resist the assault of new competitors such as the Peugeot 4007 and the Citroën C-Crosser. Citroën UK sold its entire annual quota in less than three months. Renault will join soon the fight with the upcoming Koleos. Soon, the segment will be crowded and the relatively high price of the Freelander will have less appeal to the masses. The new model may be launched within 18 months.

Developing a seven-seat Freelander would seem to be quite a challenge. The boot capacity of the current model is small, especially since the spare tyre is stored in it. One solution may be to extend its length but it would then bear too much similarity to the Discovery. At 177.1 inch long, adding 8 inches to provide enough room for the third row of seats will make it only 5 inches shorter than the Discovery. Likewise, developing this new variant will require investment. Perhaps future buyers will not be ready to accept the potential cost involved.

    Land Rover would like to build a brand under the Range Rover badge in the future. There have even been rumours that the Freelander LR2 could drop its Land Rover badge in favour of the Range Rover badge. Until recently it was pure speculation, but the nomination of Phil Simmons as studio director of the iconic Range Rover model is being seen as possible confirmation of the rumours. This is the first time the Land Rover has employed a studio director specifically dedicated to the Range Rover model.

Phil Simmons is not a stranger at Land Rover, where he spent 10 years of his career. He participated in designing the exterior of the Range Rover which is currently on sale. He subsequently moved to Ford Motor Company in the US, where he was responsible for Ford’s family of mid-size vehicles such as the Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Lincoln MKZ. He was appointed Chief Designer for Ford of Europe in September 1999.

The current Land Rover Design’s studio director, Dave Saddington, keeps his position and will focus on the Land Rover products Defender and Discovery. Both men will report to Land Rover’s Design Director, Gerry McGovern.

In a world where SUVs are not particularly welcome and where regulations are more and more constraining, Land Rover’s future is threatened despite the Britishness that protects it from having the bad image suffered by American gas guzzlers. Land Rover must change and its CEO, Geoff Polites, is well aware of the situation. It is widely known that the British carmaker is actively working on a hybrid version of the future Range Rover. Unfortunately this alone will not be enough and Solihull is considering a baby Land Rover, smaller than the Freelander II.

Indeed, despite being Land Rover’s smallest vehicle, the Freelander II still produces 194 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometer in its least polluting version. This is almost twice the average level stipulated by the European automaker regulations, due to come into force in 2012.

As of now, Land Rover has still not made any formal decision regarding the baby Land. Geoff Polites told the Financial Times that such a car will be produced if people are ready to buy it. Considering the hype of the Range Rover Sport among wealthy people, asking them to replace it by a small SUV/crossover is likely to prove a real challenge.

The Range Rover gets a new engine, to crown its range. Above the 4.4-litre V8 engine inherited from BMW– and so is the Range’s bodyframe – , the Range has now a supercharged 4.2 V8 delivering no less than 400bhp. In fact, this engine is provided by Jaguar, which belongs to the Ford group, just like Land Rover. In the mean time, it receives upgraded suspensions and grille. Now, the Range can reach 130mph, accelerate from 0 to 60mph in 7.1 sec, for an overall consumption of 17.7mpg. Ouch!
All this has a cost: £72,995.

Later, a 3.6 litre V8 turbodiesel should come out. This unit, delivering about 250bhp for a huge 400lb ft torque at least, will be built in Ford’s plant in Dagenham.

Created in 2003, the successful Land Rover G4 Challenge continues in 2006. Men and women from 18 countries around the world will be given the opportunity to give the best of themselves in an awesome adventure around the World, behind the wheel of an orange Discovery. Needless to say that it takes one to be healthy, sporty, painstaking and mentally balanced to participate in such a race, beginning in Bangkok city and ending on the high altitudes plains of Bolivia.
Working in bi-national teams, competitors will have to sweat their guts out if they want to stand out in the 4 consecutive stages taking place in both urban and remote areas located in Southeast Asia and South America. The winner will be offered a brand new Range Rover.
Don’t think filling a form is enough to get into this adventure. Each nation will organize tests to select 3 competitors, male or female, who next will have to go to an international selection and training event taking place in Eastnor Castle, UK. Only one competitor per nation will eventually be chosen.

The following nations will be represented during the 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge:
Argentina
Australia

Belgium and Luxembourg
Brazil
Chile and Costa Rica
France
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Italy
Japan
The Netherlands
South Africa
Spain
Russia
Taiwan
Turkey
The United Kingdom

Want to apply? Click here