L Rover - 25 Years In The USA: Summary (Part 3)

When Land Rover came to the US, sales were modest. That was to be expected as the Range Rover model that was the entire range was trailblazing the luxury SUV category. With that segment gaining popularity and new models being added, the marque accelerated in the mid 90's. Today Land Rover has a strong following in the country, and the US is a very important market for it.

Below is a summary of sales for each model and the total figure, the average sales per year and the number of years is in brackets (in the case of the Evoque, months).

Disco	248,200	(13,8 – 18y)
R Rover	185,300	(7,4 – 25y)
RR Sp	99,100	(14,2 – 7y)
Freelan	59,600	(6,0 – 10y)
Defendr	6,600	(1,3 – 5y)
Evoque	3,600	(9,1 – 4mth)
Total	602,000	(24,1 – 25y)

LR just passed the 600k milestone in 25 years, so a fine result. The Evoque for now will add to the success and later the new Defender. The RR Sport however, looks set to continue being a top seller in the range.

For other similar articles, simply click on the dates: 

1987-2000, 2001-2012 & 2001-2015 (update).

L Rover - 25 Years In The USA: 2001-12 (Part 2)

This is Part 2 of a three part series covering LR USA.


After the demise of the Defender in the US, the brand soldiered on with just two models until 2001, when the Freelander debuted. It was never that popular in the US, and the name was changed to the LR2 in 2007.


The Discovery became the LR3 in 2004 and in 2009 the LR4.

Year	Total	Discovery	R Rover	Freelander
2001	27,200	20,100	5,800	1,300
2002	41,000	17,400	8,600	15,000
2003	39,000	17,400	12,100	9,500
2004	35,500	16,500	13,600	5,400

In 2005, the RR Sport joined the range it was an instant success. It quickly became the best selling model of the range and has stayed so since.

Year	Total	RR Sp	R Rover	Disco	Freel	Evoq
2005	46,200	10,500	13,400	20,200	2,100	-
2006	47,800	18,800	12,000	16,900	100	-
2007	49,500	17,000	12,300	11,000	9,200	-
2008	29,200	11,700	8,100	3,900	5,500	-
2009	26,300	11,400	7,300	3,200	4,400	-
2010	31,900	12,400	8,700	7,100	3,700	-
2011	38,100	15,300	9,800	8,000	2,800	2,200

You can see the effect of the enonomic downturn in 2008. LR maintained market share and has increased it since.
In the short time the Evoque was sold during 2011 in the US, it already made a mark on the chart. In 2012, for the first two months below, the Evoque was already second among the models.

Year	Total	RR Sp	Evoq	R Rov	Disco	Freel
2012	6,450	2,200	1,400	1,200	1,150	500

For other similar articles, simply click on the dates: 

1987-2000, Summary & 2001-2015 (update).

Pics: Wikipedia

L Rover - 25 Years In the USA: 1987-00 (Part 1)

This is the first of three installments, tracking LR sales in the USA.

Despite the fact that Land Rovers have been around since 1948 and Range Rovers from 1970, LR only made it to the States in 1987. Initially sales were only the Range Rover, the Defender arriving in 1993 and the Discovery model in 1994. Below are sales for those years by model:

Year	R Rover	Defend
1987	2,600	-
1988	3,400	-
1989	4,800	-
1990	4,600	-
1991	3,300	-
1992	3,900	-
1993	4,600	300

Year	Total	Disco	R Rov	Defend
1994	12,000	6,500	4,050	1,450
1995	19,800	11,600	6,650	1,550
1996	23,200	15,500	7,100	600
1997	23,800	14,700	6,600	2,500
1998	21,400	14,200	7,100	100
1999	29,400	21,900	7,500	-
2000	27,100	20,800	6,300	-

The Defender only lasted until 1998, when new safety rules forced it out of the US market. As for the Discovery, it became the largest seeing model from introduction for the remainder of the sales period above.

For other similar articles, simply click on the dates: 

2001-2012 Summary & 2001-2015 (update).

Pic: Range Rover - http://ucapusa.com
Discovery - www.automobilemag.com

The Rover 75

The Rover 75 was to be the saviour of MG Rover. It was to replace two cars, the 600 and 800. A good deal of money was spent in making it a quality offering. However, it didn't sell well, as the production figures below testify. The second figures from 2001 were for the MG ZT variation:

1999 53,700
2000 31,300
2001 33,800 3,500
2002 32,100 6,900
2003 30,400 8,000
2004 24,200 6,800
2005 5,200 1,800
(partial year)
Total 210,800 27,100

Owners of the time BMW hoped for 100,000 sales plus, but those production figures were well short of that. What went wrong?

First, Owner BMW didn't want the car to compete with it's cars so went for a pleasant driving, or old fashioned styled vehicle. That appealed to some, but not enough.

Second: Instead of focusing on the vehicle, BMW CEO Bernd Pischetsrieder used the launch of the car to raise negative issues that questioned the future of MG Rover. That must have adversely affected sales.

So while the 75 was a fine car of excellent quality, it under sold in a big way. It deserved better but failed to exceed the Rover 600 sales, let alone adding the 800, both of which it replaced. As I have stated before BMW mishandled the Rover brand. The Rover 75 should have succeeded but didn't; those that bought one got a very nice car.

Older Cars Where I Live

I was on my bike yesterday around the town I live and I took my camera. Well, I came across three old cars. I took snaps of them and here they are:


A 1957 Ford Prefect. A mild climate and a not too strict warrant of fitness regime means as long as they are reasonably maintained, you can have one. Something different. This is the 100E model and it was made from 1953 to 1959. A total of 100,554 were produced produced according to Wiki. That's just over 16,500 per annum, not large numbers.






1939 Austin 10.According to Wiki: It was launched in 1932 and was Austin's best-selling car in the 1930s and continued in production, with upgrades, until 1947.
I haven't seen them around that I recall, so I was thinking it was fortuitous that my camera was at the ready.
Apparently 290,000 were made in total in the fifteen odd years they were made. I was amazed to think that the '10' was the best seller for the brand but on average less than 20,000 were made per year.






1964 Bond Equipe GT. Just when I though that was as good as it could get, the pièce de résistance. According to the official Bond car website, only 4,389 Equipe were ever made. I didn't know there were so many model variants or I would have taken greater note of what this one was.
Now drawing on Wiki
"The original Equipe, the GT, was based on the Triumph Herald chassis with a fastback fibreglass body and also utilised further Triumph parts including the windscreen / scuttle assembly, and doors. The September 1964 GT4S model saw revisions to the body with twin headlights and an opening rear boot. It was powered by the same, mildly tuned up Herald-based 1147 cc engine used in the Triumph Spitfire".
So the twin headlamps then suggest the GT4S model of which 1,934 were produced. One of them made it down to New Zealand and still in use. I noticed the seats needed reupholstering but overall in good condition.

Quite a mix of older cars. Nice to see people still value this sort of vehicle.