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Never forget.
If the sales of the Evoque bring loads of cash and a new customers to the brand then it can only be a good thing.
I hated the Disco (1) when it came on the market but it probably saved Land Rover in the long run and has attracted a lot of new cutomers who tow, travel, offroad....
IMO
A bit like Proust's opinion of the Eiffel Tower, "I enjoy dining there - the only place in Paris where I don't have to look at it!"
The Evoque is a driver's car. Critics such as Clarkson and Hammond love it, against all expectations.
I hate the look of the things. My grandkids would hate to be in the back of one. The low waistline of the Freelander was one of my deciders - people can see out!! (or see to reverse, though I've an r-camera fitted).
But I wish my FL2 had that extra 20mm of clearance! (Wouldn't have got stuck outside Esperance in that dirty great hidden-ruts puddle, would I?)(Wouldn't have scraped the belly near the Eyre Bird Observatory, would I? etc)
As far as I can work out, they might actually be (gasp) better off-road than the FL2 - which has its rep for amazing low-range fanatics and humiliating Jeeps.
Horrible things - but they work. And more sales means better support network for the brand-as-a-whole. Just so long as they don't drop the Freelander with its practicalities off the manufacturing list!
The Disco1 is what drew me into the brand. When I first saw one of those I knew straight away that I wanted one.Quote:
Originally Posted by 100inch
The car that saved Landrover in the 90s was the much maligned Freelander 1. Back in 98 it changed the way a lot of people thought of awd vehicles and brought a lot of people to the brand (some would say it also drove them away).
The FL1 was a huge sales success and was the best selling awd/4wd vehicle in Europe for many years, no other Landrover model has come close to the sales/time figure.
Likewise 10 years later in Aust - it was the RRS and not the D3 that drove the sales in Aust - for a few years the RRS outsold the D3 and overall sales of each type have been similar though the D4 seems to have picked up really well compared to the RRS - see heaps of D4s on the road but not too many of the equivalent RRSs.
Garry
:confused::confused::confused:Quote:
Originally Posted by garrycol
I don't think many will see that being the case.
That is stretching a very long bow.Quote:
Originally Posted by garrycol
The Freelander was only released in 1997 so 2/3 of the 1990's had already passed. The vehicle that actually saved the Land Rover marque was the Discovery, matching both Range Rover and Defender sales in it's first full year 1990, then progressively out producing the other two until 1993 when it more than double the combined production of Defender and Range Rover and maintaining a lead right up through the decade. Land Rover FAQ - History, Production, Sales - Production Data
Do you have any production and sales figures for the freelander?
The Discovery never got to be best selling 4wd in Europe - the Freelander did for a few years - from release in 1997 to 2002.
Europe is only a small segment of the World market.Quote:
Originally Posted by garrycol
I always thought that the UK is/was LR biggest single market???
Sure Russia, US and China are on the rise.m
See Land Rover History for some info, dated 2009. Basically:
1948-Jan/2009(?) SERIES I to Defender: 1,912,108
1970-Jan/2009(?) Range Rover 693,860
1989-Jan/2009(?) Discovery 823,062
1997-Jan/2009(?) Freelander 623,883
2004-2009 Range Rover Sport 159,533