Mike Harding Landrovers Blog

A team from Yorkshire are aiming to ‘drive’ across the Bering Straits between Russia and Alaska.

Steve Burgess and partner Nicky Spinks, are about to leave their home in West Yorkshire on the first leg of an historic Land Rover journey. Steve is hoping to become the first person to ‘drive’ a vehicle across the Bering Strait, between Russia and Alaska. But first of all, he’s got to get there during the Russian winter; that’s where the de-mountable tracks come in.

Nicky will return home once they reach Moscow. Simon Dedman, an experienced overland adventurer, will take Nicky’s place for the mammoth drive through the interior.

The 56-mile Bering Strait crossing will be attempted in summer, by Steve and Dan Evans, from Protection and Performance. The two collaborated on the creation of the tracks and the floatation system that bolts onto the Defender. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Rover is launching its Our Planet communications campaign which sets out the progress the company has made in improving its environmental performance and a commitment to maintain the momentum with technical innovation and the world’s biggest CO2 offset programme. In addition, Our Planet will highlight Land Rover’s global conservation and humanitarian projects. Full details can be found at landrover.co.uk/ourplanet.

The Our Planet campaign comes as Land Rover celebrates its 60th anniversary, a time to look back over its heritage, celebrate the present (with the limited edition SVX Defender) and embrace the challenges of the future with the LRX Concept car being shown at the Detroit Motor Show this week. This has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions below 120 g/km thanks to an efficient footprint, lightweight material and hybrid technology.

Land Rover takes its responsibility to the environment seriously. Emissions have been cut with new models and, together with Jaguar, it’s spending £700m on technology specifically aimed at reducing CO2. Read the rest of this entry »

Sales just keep on rising but high prices fail to put off Land Rover connoisseurs , writes Frederic Manby

Land rovers cost more than other four-wheel drives, but its position seems secure because sales keep rising.
Registrations in Britain in 2007 reached 46,552, up 8.78 per cent on 2006 – an increase of almost 3,760 vehicles.

In comparison, its Ford stablemate Jaguar saw UK numbers down by around 4,400 in a 19 per cent slide. Both companies look likely to be sold to Tata of India. The world waits.

I spent Christmas and New Year in the company of Land Rover’s Freelander, this one with diesel power and automatic gears. It was more than a year since I’d been in the Freelander, brand new at the end of 2006. Since then I had driven the latest Honda CR-V, Kia Sportage and Nissan’s X-Trail. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Rover’s new global campaign for Freelander 2 captures a spirit of adventure by showing a Freelander driver and a hot air balloonist both taking different routes on the same journey.

The Lowdown

Shot in Vancouver, the ad opens in an urban landscape late at night. Spectacular aerial shots shows a hot air balloon rises through the high-rise buildings, into the clouds and journeys through the city before reaching mountains and lakes. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Rover is setting up camp for consumers delivering three luxury off-road ‘Adventures’ between April 18-29 in Moab, Utah — the legendary recreation haven that is known for its images of stunning scenery, immense red rock monuments and world-class outdoor recreation.

The Land Rover Moab Adventure is an exclusive four-day, three-night experience for Land Rover customers and off-road enthusiasts where each day begins and ends with the best local cuisine and luxury accommodations at the Sorrel River Ranch alongside the banks of the Colorado River.

Novice and experienced off-road adventurers have the opportunity to drive a Land Rover Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and LR3 through some of Moab’s challenging, yet breathtakingly beautiful, red rock trails with the guidance of Land Rover’s world-class driving instructors.

“Land Rover has traveled the globe throughout its 60 year history and our owners reap the benefit of our experience in creating and delivering exceptional outdoor travel experiences,” said Bob Burns, 3D experience driving programs manager, Land Rover North America. “Our owners tend to seek out adventure in remote and out of the way places and our adventures are designed to showcase the capability of our vehicles while finding unique and memorable locations.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tracking and Managing More Than 150,000 Vehicles Annually Across 300+ Acres, WhereNet System Helps Luxury Car Maker Improve Throughput, Productivity, and Order-to-Cash Cycles

SOLIHULL, England and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire/ — WhereNet Corp., a Zebra Technologies company and the leader in wireless solutions for tracking and managing enterprise assets, announced today that Land Rover’s expanded use of the standards-based WhereNet(R) active RFID, real-time locating system (RTLS) technology has helped the luxury automaker automate processing of more than 150,000 new vehicles annually. Deployed at Land Rover’s 308-acre assembly plant in Solihull, England, WhereNet’s Vehicle Tracking and Management System (VTMS) improves production velocity and throughput, labor productivity, order-to-cash cycles, and vehicle quality. The Solihull plant produces the Defender, Discovery 3/LR3, Range Rover, and Range Rover Sport vehicles.

“We used to spend a considerable amount of time searching our huge facility to locate vehicles,” said Dave O’Reilly, manager, manufacturing and purchasing IT for Land Rover. “Now, the precise location of all new vehicles is always at our fingertips. The information the WhereNet system provides is critical in optimizing production, supporting lean manufacturing, and ensuring that Land Rover delivers the highest-quality vehicles.” Read the rest of this entry »

Land Rover has announced its appointment as the Official Vehicle Partner to Snowsport GB, the British Alpine Ski Team and the British Snowboard Team.

As Official Vehicle Partner, Land Rover will provide all team members - including Britain’s number one female down hill skier, Chemmy Alcott together with Finlay Mickel and brothers Alain and Noel Baxter - with a fleet of Discovery 3s and Range Rover Sports to support them during the World Cup season.

“As a British brand, we are delighted to be able to support the best of British skiers and snowboarders in their pursuit of World Cup victory,” commented John Edwards, managing director for Land Rover UK. “Land Rover vehicles provide the ultimate capability required to ensure that the team members can travel safely and comfortably between competitions, often through treacherous snowy conditions.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Land Rover Discovery 3 V8 HSE won the first place in the Moroccan Desert Storm Rally, and was driven by the Duckworth Dealership.

The rally was a 5-day event headed to the Sahara desert through the Rift and Atlas mountains. The Discovery’s sponsor was Texaco/Haveline, with 24 competitors taking part in the event. The director of Duckworth, Ben Duckworth, was the driver. He was supported by his sales executive, Howard Belt.

Good quality oil has been used in the vehicle and even though it was subjected to excessive heat and pressure during the rally, it hardly used any oil at all.

Land Rover, being in relationship with Chevron, uses their fluids and lubricants. The company also sells Havoline engine oil. In order to keep the car’s fuel system clean, the programme of Havoline Performance Plus is being used in Land Rover vehicles. The company also distributes Levanto AirCon Treatment.

Land Rover has signed a major sponsorship deal with ESPN-owned global rugby portal Scrum.com to sponsor its Six Nations Fantasy League game.

The integrated sponsorship deal includes the branded game and its promotion across the rugby portal and ESPN’s European platforms, which includes Cricinfo.com and ESPNsoccernet.com.

The deal kicks off on Saturday (2 February) when England take on Wales in the tournament’s opening game at Twickenham.

It’s the third consecutive year that Land Rover has sponsored the Six Nations Fantasy game on Scrum.com. Last year the global rugby portal’s game attracted more than 25,000 users.

Andy Griffiths, UK MD of Land Rover, said the sponsorship was “an important facet of our ongoing association with rugby in the UK”. Read the rest of this entry »

Land Rover will celebrate its 60th anniversary this year. The company reached a high point of over 200,000 vehicles sold in 2007, over 17% more than the year before.

Range Rover Sport, the pride of the company, has proved to be a luxurious and well equipped vehicle. The impressive interior covers a 4,2 litre powerful engine. It also has leather seats for passengers’ comfort, a rear-view camera and DVD players, a 14-speaker sound system, a heated steering wheel and lots more features.

Not only does the vehicle look impressive, it’s also safe with its electronic pressure distribution, gradient descent control and a four channel ABS.

What more could you want? Even though the Range Rover Sport is a big vehicle, it’s incredibly easy to drive and manoeuvre. It drives smoothly and is very spacious, accommodating not only the weekly shop, but much more besides.