Picture courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover Media Centre
Happy new year to all loyal listeners, we’ve been busy supplying the wonderful Land Rover owners all the parts their hearts requested.
Not only have we seen a strong demand for Land Rover parts and accessories at McDonald Land Rover, Jaguar Land Rover have seen a record year of sales.
Boosted by the stunning F Type and supported by the Lottery Dreamers’ favourite, the Range Rover Sport, a near-20% increase on the previous year’s figures saw the company wave ta-ta (hur hur) to 425,000 happy customers.
And it’s reasonable to assume that they are happy customers, as Jaguar topped the 2013 JD Power customer survey for the second year in a row.
Judged to be the best performing brand when taking into account dealer servicing and parts prices as well as the ‘owner’ experience, a Jag should be a car you want to get India garage (india garage, get it?)
In terms of individual car performance, the Jaguar XF came third, a mere 0.3% off the winner’s satisfaction score. 82.7% of XF owners placed their car above all others.
On the Four By Four front, Land Rover came 6th overall, the first time it’s entered the top ten of the JD Power Survey and a sign of things to come.
Seeing Land Rover tying in 5th place with arch off-road rivals Toyota is a real indicator of how much the brand values customers, placing not only their comfort but also the technicians’ performance at the top of their priorities.
The highest Land Rover was the Freelander 2 a join 39th. The Discovery 4 tied at 61, beating amongst other notable adversaries the Audi RS6, Q5, Q7, BMW X3, Volvo XC90.
Hot competition smited, the Chelsea Tractor brand of choice did well considering the compromise necessary when looking at just the vehicle alone. Though you’d love the bling-mobiles on your driveway, the fuel and insurance costs would worry Rupert Murdoch, so perhaps the Skoda Yeti is safe for now.
Watch What Car’s video op-ed on the results here
What Car’s JD Power Survey Video
To see Jaguar Land Rover’s Facebook video The Land Rover Story, click the image above.
- Land Rover Red Bull Desert Wings Dakar 2014 Team
Picture courtesy of Jaguar Land Rover Media Centre
Red Bull have announced that Land Rover will produce 5 off-roaders to compete in the 2014 Dakar Rally.
The soldier-staffed Race2Recovery team will share the LR bivouac; their race ended early this year as both cars retired on stage 2, but the T4 racing support truck carries on so far and we wish them all the best for a top finish on the 18th of January in Valparaiso, Chile.
Land Rover have confirmed that they will also sponsor Race2Recovery’s Defender Challenge By Bowler in 2014. Good on ’em, we say.

New Land Rover Discovery-ette?
Picture courtesy of Autoexpress
Spied testing in Gaydon, Oxon, this photo from Autoexpress shows what could be either the Freelander 3 or Discovery-mini. Codenamed L550, the 5 and 7 seater additions to the Discovery badge should start production next year.
If they’re as good as the Freelander 2 whose market it will continue and the Evoque whose styling will influence the aesthetics, it should be a ruddy good car.
We still have these delightful 1:24 die cast models of Land Rover vehicles, including the Defender, Evoque, Discovery 4 and Range Rover L322.
Complete with opening doors and bonnet, at less than £13 each these models were a favourite over christmas. Snap up a bargain whilst you can.
Happy new year to all from all.
This blog post was written by Rupert Astbury.