Hertz is now offering an armoured Range Rover for daily rental.
Whether this reflects real security worries or is just the latest fad amongst people with more money than sense remains to be seen. The car, which would cost £185,000 to buy, features under-body and floor protection, multi-laminate armoured glass, an anti-tamper exhaust, a fuel-supply override switch, in-vehicle oxygen supply, an intercom system, run-flat tyres and a self-sealing fuel tank.

Rental will cost £1,000 per day and the vehicle is available from the Marble Arch office in London. Rather amusingly, Hertz says that a minimum 72 hours notice is required “to enable comprehensive checks to be made into potential customers”. Presumably, they need to check that the car is being rented to deter crime rather than perpetrate it – an armoured Range Rover would make the ultimate ram-raid vehicle.

(this article was taken from motoring.reuters.co.uk)

Land Rover was named by R. L. Polk & Co. during its tenth annual Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards ceremony at the 2006 Automotive News World Congress in Dearborn, MI.

Range Rover won in the Prestige SUV category. This marks the second consecutive year the model has been honoured.

“We are thrilled that our customers continue to embrace the Range Rover,” said Ben Weiner, Customer Satisfaction Manager for Land Rover North America. “Winning this award again signifies that our customers appreciate this extraordinary vehicle and the unique experience that only comes with owning a Range Rover.”

The Polk Automotive Loyalty Awards recognize manufacturers for superior owner loyalty performance. Loyalty is determined when a household that owns a new vehicle returns to purchase or lease another new vehicle of the same model or make.

Land Rover has produced pre-eminent sport-utility vehicles that have gained a – reputation for capability and adventure, as well as understated luxury and innovation, since 1948.

The Range Rover, Land Rover’s flagship model, epitomizes these attributes. The Range Rover for 2006 adds two new V8 powertrains, including a supercharged version which produces 400 hp.

(this article was taken from stoneycreeknews.com)

Land Rover reports that its global sales in January were up 22% on the same month last year at just over 15,000 units. That’s a record January for the off-road manufacturer, supported by 16% growth in Europe and a 33% improvement in the North American market.

The really big news, though, is in the East. Land Rover’s presence in Russia improved greatly last year, and it’s showing little sign of slowing down, with a 42% increase in January sales from last year to this. The improvement over the same period in China, largely thanks to the popularity of the Discovery, is 176%.

“This really is a phenomenal start to 2006 and continues the incredible year we had in 2005,” says Land Rover’s Managing Director Matthew Taylor. “Customers from across the world are taking advantage of the strongest model line-up in Land Rover’s 58-year history, and sales growth in emerging markets really demonstrates the global appeal of 21st-century Land Rover.”

(this bulletin was taken from itv-motoring.com)

Whilst a number of Sale Sharks were away on international duty, last week saw some of our young stars take on an altogether different challenge with an international dimension.

The Land Rover G4 Challenge, Land Rover’s ultimate global adventure involving 18 nations, reached its final stage of international selections and Land Rover UK, sponsor of England and Premier Rugby, invited Sale to join teams from London Wasps and Gloucester to see if professional rugby players had what it would take to qualify.

Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, Sean Cox, Adam Newton, Ben Coutts , Martin Halsall and Team Conditioner Scott Pearson travelled to the dramatic setting of Eastnor Castle, Land Rover’s flagship Experience Centre set in the heart of the Malvern Hills, to experience a day of fierce competition.

The players undertook a series of extreme challenges designed to test physical fitness, teamwork, strategy, navigational skills and off road driving ability.

Their lower and upper body strength was pushed to the limit in a set of exhausting physical challenges set in a wooded obstacle course. Including a never ending rope and tread wheel challenge it assessed player’s agility, balance, and strength.

Sean Cox, England U21 player, described the hoop challenge as ‘the hardest twenty seconds of my life’. The 6’5” second row forward went on to say ‘it was far tougher than I expected. It would suit someone who is small and light, but my weight works against me’. On hearing some competitors have completed this part of the course in four mintues fifty seconds, the international rugby player replied: ‘yes, but they don’t weigh 110kg and have the balance of a small elephant’.

Being physically fit did not necessarily put the players at an automatic advantage although they showed the same high motivation as the G4 international finalists. The woods echoed with expletives and encouragement with Sean Cox urging his teammate Adam Newton to ‘Go on, do it for Sale’. So the players, who both said they’d love to try the event when their rugby days are over, might have struggled for being strapping sportsmen, but scored top marks for teamwork.

The highlight of the day saw the competitors take to the driving seat to complete a treacherous and demanding off-roading course. The landscape of Eastnor Castle provides truly demanding conditions with rutted tracks, deep mud river crossings and rock crawls forming part of everyday driving.

The rugby stars had joined fifty four competitors for whom a gruelling six day programme at Eastnor Castle was the final gateway to representing their nation in the 2006 Land Rover G4 Challenge. Thousands of applicants have already gone through rigorous National Selection processes with the aim of gaining a place in the epic adventure.

To find out more about Land Rover’s Driving Experience Centre network or to book a test drive, call 0800 110 110 or visit www.landrover.co.uk

(this article was taken from salesharks.com)

Do you own a unique Defender that has led an interesting life? In a survey being conducted by Land Rover, this is one of the questions being asked of 20,000 Defender owners in the UK. The iconic Defender has become a long-term favourite with adventurers, explorers, farmers, emergency services, aid organisations and those who need to go anywhere, or carry just about anything. Owners of Defenders are being urged to reveal as much information as possible in “The Great Defender Survey”.

In doing so, owners will be entered into a prize-draw to win a five-star weekend at Land Rover’s home of off-road driving, Eastnor Castle. Two winners and their partners will partake in a variety of off-road driving activities including a drive in one of the first ever Series I Land Rovers from 1948, DEL102, affectionately known as “Del Boy”.

Named “the greatest car of all time” by BBC TV’s Top Gear, the Defender continues to be the hero in Land Rover’s stable of vehicles.

(this article was taken from marathonrally.com)

by Emma Rigby Revolution UK 3 Feb 2006

Land Rover is developing a Wap site, Bluetooth advertising and online games to support its global adventure challenge.

The car manufacturer has also launched a new website, landroverg4challenge.com for the G4 challenge, where finalists from 18 countries compete in extreme sports including rock climbing and kayaking over four weeks in April, across four countries (Thailand, Laos, Brazil and Bolivia), for a chance to win a Land Rover.

Adventure enthusiasts can apply for a place on via the website, and data will be captured for use in later test-drive campaigns to push vehicle sales.

The website promotes brand partnerships with Nike ACG, Goodyear, Lazer Helmets and Pyranha Kayaks, and will include action from the competition in real time.

Emails sent to the Land Rover database, and banners on Land Rover sites will drive traffic to the homepage.

A Wap site developed by Bluesphere Games includes challenge information and competitor biographies, news articles, results, as well as competitions, downloads of mobile games, wallpapers, ringtones and lists available merchandise.

A 30-second film taken in Thailand and Laos has been formatted for Bluetooth broadcast on mobile.

The motor firm is also running a trip of a lifetime competition, consisting of online games and a quiz, for one week from January 29. This is promoted through 500,000 emails and the competitor with the best score in the fastest time wins the chance to accompany the Land Rover G4 Challenge crew on the final leg of the challenge in Brazil or Bolivia.

A second virtual challenge runs in April offering kit from the challenge as prizes.

The campaign was developed by Freestyle New Media. (this article was taken from brandrepublic.com)

Land Rover North America today launched an all-new marketing campaign — “Designed for the Extraordinary” — intended to entice potential customers into the world of Land Rover: sophisticated yet rugged, luxurious yet authentic, as only a Land Rover can be. The campaign focuses on what differentiates Land Rovers from other luxury vehicles offering exceptional design and outstanding breadth of capability.

Designed for the Extraordinary” showcases the brand as a whole, highlighting each individual nameplate — Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and LR3. To reinforce each vehicle’s personality in an unusual manner, Land Rover is placing vehicles in settings that feature genuine demonstrations of superior performance.

The first of the extraordinary vignettes will feature the Range Rover Sport followed by LR3 and Range Rover, shown in equally, if not more impressive ways later this year. The goal of the campaign is to show that the entire Land Rover line-up brings style and substance together in extraordinary ways.

Range Rover Sport sets the pace in the campaign via a dramatic TV shoot that took place beneath the city of Tokyo, utilizing a little-known yet huge network of underground aqueducts designed to support the city’s infrastructure. Like Land Rovers, the Tokyo aqueducts are an engineering marvel of immense capability.

Directed by Jordan Scott, daughter of famed director Ridley Scott, the TV commercial highlights the extraordinary design and driving abilities of the Range Rover Sport and the unique tunnel infrastructure, taking the viewer where no road-going vehicle has ever been before.

“In today’s world of technologically-advanced TV production, it can be difficult, if not impossible, to determine what’s real and what’s computer-generated in advertising, so we’re providing behind-the-scenes information and footage on our website. Here the viewers will come to understand that what they are seeing is completely real and not a dramatization,” said Sally Eastwood, vice president, marketing, Land Rover North America.

To further reinforce the “Designed for the Extraordinary” concept, Tokyo photographer Kenshi Daito was commissioned to create his own vision of “Extraordinary”, capturing the essence of Tokyo and the Range Rover Sport from his own unique perspective. Sixteen of Daito’s photographs can be viewed at http://www.landroverusa.com. Known in the art community for his unique style of blending digital technology and traditional photographic processes, the inspiration behind Daito’s photography is similar to that of the Range Rover Sport’s own amalgamation of cutting-edge technology and legendary tradition.

The campaign’s primary communication methods will focus on TV, print and outdoor, complemented by a “behind-the-scenes” look at the making of the advertisements that will be housed on the company website at http://www.landroverusa.com.

Documentary footage, still photographs, interviews with the crew and information about the car will show how the ads were created. Locations of the ad shoots and teasers for upcoming features will also be available online.

(this article was taken from yahoo press releases)