Land Rover updates names, changes approach to new product lines

What about Land Rover? Just 16 months ago, Jaguar Land Rover renamed itself JLR, expanded its two brands to four, and surprisingly, shuffled its storied Land Rover nameplate to what appears to be a mostly symbolic, ceremonial position in the new “House of Brands.” Company representatives never really explained their thinking, but MT interviews with JLR COO Lennard Hoornik and Range Rover managing director Geraldine Ingham have shed a little more light on just what exactly is happening to Land Rover.

Where Did Land Rover go?

From the start and continuing through these interviews, JLR executives have been loathe to admit Land Rover has been deemphasized or taken a back seat. They’re quick to point out the familiar green logo, which they’ve taken to calling a “trustmark,” will still appear on the vehicles and will represent core principles like off-road capability. Whether it will appear on every former Land Rover product remains to be seen, though, as Ingham explained “removing badges is part of our reductive design strategy.”

Hoornik is more defensive. The Land Rover badge is, he says, a “critical mark” and will be “refined” going forward, not eliminated. He’s also quick to point out the company’s bourgeoning Land Rover Classic division, which is restoring classic models in-house for well-heeled owners. (Sister division Jaguar Classic is doing the same for that brand’s vintage models.)

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What neither will say directly is why they don’t believe Land Rover has the same brand equity it once had. Reducing it to a badge and a restoration shop with no clear explanation why suggests a belief it can no longer sell cars the way it used to. Supporting this hypothesis is something chief creative officer Jerry McGovern told us when the move was first announced: “The reality is Range Rover is already a brand. So is Defender. We love the Land Rover name, but it doesn't have as much equity as Range Rover, and Defender is rising fast."

In other words, Land Rover is old news. McGovern went on to point out “people tell us they drive a Range Rover, not a Land Rover.” Between the success of products like the Range Rover and Defender and the company’s long-confusing naming scheme – is it really a Land Rover Range Rover SV Autobiography LWB? Yes, technically, it is — the buying public seems to have lost interest in the Land Rover part of the name in favor of the model in their driveway, and JLR seems to see more success to be had in embracing this reality than fighting it.

Explaining the house of brands

“It provides some complexity,” Hoornik said of splitting up the brands, “but brings a huge amount of clarity for each brand.” As he describes it, turning Range Rover, Defender and Discovery into their own standalone brands rather than Land Rover models gives each its own values and direction. A Defender is free to be very different than a Range Rover up and down the product line.

Under the new system, each brand (including Jaguar) has its own managing director who reports to Hoornik and each brand gets its own special attention up to and including separate meetings with the boss to chart its course. “Instead of a Jaguar meeting and a Land Rover meeting,” he said, “Each week I have a Jaguar meeting and a Defender meeting and a Range Rover meeting and a Discovery meeting.” It goes all the way down the chain to regions and individual markets where each brand now has its own managers rather than a single local boss juggling multiple brands.

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Hoornik and Ingham are convinced the brands will have little trouble standing on their own. Range Rover, as Ingham points out, is already a “strong, independent range of vehicles.” McGovern is right, too: no one calls their Range Rover a “Land Rover Range Rover.” Defender, Hoornik says, is selling five to six-times as many vehicles globally as it did before the big redesign that took it from body-on-frame anachronism to thoroughly modern off-roader, and at roughly double the price. What’s more, most Defender buyers are new to the brand. That kind of relaunch has him convinced a standalone Defender brand will do just fine.

He's less buoyant on Discovery. The least-famous former Land Rover brand has lots of loyal fans, Hoonik says, and does steady business. It’s apparently not enough, though, because he also says “we are reimagining Discovery completely.” Whether it’ll get it total and complete reboot like Jaguar is currently experiencing remains to be seen, but he seemed to imply the current Discovery and Discovery Sport aren’t cutting it in light of what Defender is doing.

As for Jag, we recently interviewed its brand manager, Rawdon Glover, who told us it’s being reimagined from the ground up. The entire current lineup has been cancelled, a completely new styling language has been developed, a high-end sales experience is being planned, and the first of its future all-electric, $100,000-plus luxury lineup will be unveiled in December. “If the new Jag could be on the Concept Lawn at Pebble Beach today,” Hoonik added, “no one could not look at it.”

Just trust us

An underlying theme emerged in speaking separately with Hoonik, Ingham, Glover and McGovern: trust us, we know what we’re doing. Each eluded to a grand, long-term plan which they’re reluctant to fully explain but assure us will all make sense in the end. “We’re over the hurdle,” Hoonik said. “We’ve got it figured out.” The public just needs to be patient and wait for the new product to gradually roll out, it seems. JLR North America vice president of communications, Stuart Schorr, reiterated “it’s a long-term strategy and you haven’t seen so many things that are coming.”

Photos by Manufacturer, Staff Photos