The date of April 1 is already a while behind us. Still, many will have glanced at the calendar. This had to be a joke. Jaguar Landrover (JLR) announced a few weeks ago that the Land Rover brand name would disappear. After 75 years, one of the most powerful names in automotive history has come to an end. According to those responsible, the brands that come under the name can now do it themselves, because that fits better with the spirit of the times. “Moreover, the Land Rover philosophy and DNA will be retained. So the Land Rover name will not disappear.” It's very simple: with the disappearance of the brand name, mother's umbrella disappears.
Ask a child to draw a Land Rover and he will entrust the old Defender and/or its predecessors to the paper one-on-one. Ask any random person which brand comes to mind first when they think of an SUV. Ten to one that the answer will be Land Rover. And mention model names such as Defender, Discovery and Freelander. Just to name a few. You will then hear: those are Land Rovers. “And the Range Rover also comes from Land Rover, right?” That's the bonus question, which you get back in response. Ever since 1970. For years.
Land Rover is much more than just an off-road brand, a carefully cultivated concept. The cars convey an adventurous lifestyle, and the inconveniences that the old Defender and its predecessors in particular present are not annoying. They are cult. Properties that go with it. Is the seating position good, and is the character less rudimentary? Then you don't have a real one. No matter how luxurious the last classic Defenders were: even for one and a half tons you received perhaps the most important image technical feature: the Spartan character.
That was always the strength of the original Land Rover Defender and its predecessors: the lack of slick handling. And the more Spartan, the less you were distracted from the core quality: extremely strong in the terrain. Above and beyond, the lifesaver. And if something broke, it was damn easy to repair. The primal Land Rovers revealed a kind of primal power, they were the talismans for forest rangers. For adventurers. From Staatsbosbeheer to Overland expedition, from Rijkswaterstaat to the Camel Trophy. And everything in between.
Land Rover fascinated, always. And still. The classic value of the name will resonate for decades to come. And it was always great how the makers and the marketing strategists developed their ideas. Over the years, a model range was created that won over an increasingly diverse and larger group of followers within the increasingly luxurious four x four market. All with their own wishes and preferences. But all the different models carried that recognizable Land Rover badge as the guardian of British 4x4 culture. The badge that always cast the angular and familiar shadow over Defenders, Freelanders, Discoverys and Range Rover models. A shadow, under which the most beautiful and strongest flowers, shrubs and trees could grow. Because the original Land Rovers and their successors irrigate the soil optimally for that.
The brand name is gone. To the sadness of many. And perhaps later also to the chagrin of the creators of this idea. JLR is to become a 'House of Brands', with four brands: Jaguar, Discovery, Range Rover and…..Defender. Some models will soon carry the Land Rover name as a trust badge. And those responsible are quick to say that Land Rover's core values will always be there.
That says enough. Because Land Rover is much more than a name for a car. It's a household name, an institution, a great piece of PR for Britain, and for anyone with an affinity for indestructible off-road vehicles and luxury 4x4s. It is not for nothing that the Jaguar Land Rover Classic department is flourishing like never before. And that's just a small indication of a name's historical power, which is much more than that. And above all much more than the current promise that the typical features will be honored in the future models of the four separate brands. That is a commitment that will soon lose out to the echo of the past.
The House of Brands has essentially been around for a long time. Everyone knew that three of the four names operated under the Land Rover umbrella. Under the mothers' umbrella, which ensured that Land Rover products never got flooded. Cup went under. And if that threatened, the brand name would pull the matter out of the doldrums again. In all circumstances. For 75 years, Land Rover models were everywhere. They made an indelible impression. And built up an almost immortal name. And it is precisely this forthcoming sound from the past that means that the four brands in The House of Brands now really have to stand on their own two feet. The question is whether they can do without mother's umbrella.
Land Rover's 75th anniversary had the potential to be a huge boost to the sales power of the Jaguar, Defender, Range Rover and Discovery names. But those responsible at JLR came up with a pension for one of the most powerful brand names in the world. Because marketing strategies today are stronger than the sound of 75 years past. It is that sound that convinced buyers to buy a product from the JLR stable. An adventurous romantic sound that is stronger than any marketing strategy. And that's not an April 1 joke either. On the contrary. Saying goodbye to this illustrious name is a poorly worded indictment of a past to which JLR owes a great deal.
© Images: Jaguar Landrover
What a stupid drivel, if I buy a Mitsubishi Asx I also drive a Renault Captur, I have a mini I drive a BMW, I have a small smart I drive a twingo but I still drive a real car, Mercedes Benz 200 D Heckflosse 1962 automatic with a 12-cylinder AMG with automatic transmission, elec windows, cruise, leather, elec windows, nav, well built, you don't see it unless you stand in front at a traffic light next to a Ferrari and you see a red face in your mirror
Marketing and accountants: a poisonous financial cocktail leading to romantic death.
Examples galore. Historic brands are being killed (like Laro is now) or are facing a completely unbelievable future. (Bugatti, Lamborghini = VW, MG and Volvo are Chinese etc etc).
Marketers are like politicians. They make decisions about things they don't understand.
The 'Laro' Defender is cult. Beautiful in ugliness. Is the body very tight without a curve or perhaps a more serious curve, you don't have a real one or it has been abused. A Toyota J40 Land Cruiser surpasses it on all counts. If I had to make a choice, it would have been made really quickly. As nice as a Defender may be, because I readily admit that
Excellent development, separating the chaff (the luxury tractors) from the wheat (the simple, honest off-road vehicle) which image was abused.
Incidentally, this 'abuse' also exists in about 95% of all classic Laro owners in the Netherlands, who cherish the image, but in fact do not live in the circumstances to justify such a work truck. But a good step by acknowledging reality, an end to the dilution with a perfume smell.
I don't quite understand this fascination with the Landrover. If you buy a car for over a ton and then if you close the door, you can still put your hand out through that door. If you then say something about it to the owner, then "that's how it should be" is a dead doer that I can't do anything with. You might as well keep riding a motorcycle.
Whoa
During my military service I had to go every day to get the soup and mail in a barracks 40 km away with a Minerva (landrover).
Even at -10 in winter, you did not suffer from fogged windows, despite the lack of a blower. That's how hard the wind was blowing in that thing with the hood closed.
The couch was also a straight piece of plank with a cloth over it. Every turn you slid from left to right in this vehicle. It drove smoothly, In the vehicle I was driving a driver had already died in a fatal accident. Only the windshield through which he had flown had to be replaced. Just BAF on impact, no crumple zones, just a railroad chassis underneath.
For a maximum of 1000 euros I would consider buying something like this in new condition, but it is not worth more to me
This plan was quite old, they waited until Elisabeth passed away.
Her Majesty would not have been amused.
Citroen had to become DS if necessary, they are dying, also in China!
The French built the original jeep (Ford MB / Willys) under license with the Hotchkiss for years, the English took a closer look… and came up with the LaRo type I.
I once read that 75% of all LaRo's ever produced are still on the road, they are that good.
Toyota eventually built the superlative with the J40.
Unfortunately they haven't learned anything from the 70s of the last century, and they already let that bleed well then.
Land Rover is not a brand, it's a statement..
Just finished my Lightweight, my fourteenth Land Rover, can own almost all types, great privilege!
Intend to sell the LW, it's done, but it's going to be a bitter-sweet goodbye.
With a Land Rover you went into the jungle,
With a Toyota Land Cruiser (J40) you then went back home from the jungle.
haha great response!
Where the Land Rover gets stuck in the mud, the Landcruiser pulls it out!
Yes funny. Not. True story: with my old LaRo 90 a brand new thick Landcruiser pulled loose. Somewhere in the highlands? Deep in dark Africa? Sahara? No, just in the sand of the Maasvlakte.
I get it. Land Rover is synonymous with practical off-road vehicles for real off-roading. For the farmer who needed a tractor but also transport to the market. That essence and that market have long since disappeared, as has the associated price tag (partly due to the increasingly stringent obligations with regard to the environment and safety). The Range Rover became the luxury (and expensive) branch that is now in demand and where those hurdles are irrelevant. Range Rover has gradually supplanted Land Rover in the new car market. So yes, understandable. And actually not bad because if you release luxury cars like the current Defender under the LR name, you deny the origin all the more. Then no more LR at all. Long live the LR!
Another retarded decision right there.
First Jaguar where there is no follow-up of models and where they want to become an electric brand just below Bentley, and now this. I thought that with the removal of that Bolloré (he really did not leave voluntarily) common sense was back. But no.
As a huge Jaguar enthusiast, that hurts. And now to kill the beautiful Land Rover brand…. Good job there.
Marketers have never excelled in much common sense and idea for the past.