Queues form to buy expensive Land RoversOct 9 2007


By John Cranage, Automotive Correspondent
Land Rover is celebrating its best sales performance in 714 months of production as wealthy Russians and Chinese queue up to buy its most expensive models.

The Solihull 4x4 specialist has been buoyed by figures showing that global sales rose by 34 per cent to nearly 26,000 units in September.

The numbers show that the company, the world's only specialist manufacturer of all-terrain vehicles, has not been affected either by uncertainty over ownership or the prospect of big tax rises on its products as a result of pressure from environmental campaigners.

But what effect the continuing sales boom will have on parent group Ford's decision about whether or not to sell the company along with Jaguar cannot be estimated, one automotive industry expert said yesterday.
The two West Midland luxury carmakers are on the market. Ford is expected to announce its decision on whether to press ahead with a sale or not either later this year or early next year.
"The key to Land Rover is not so much volumes, but the fact that it is making a profit," the industry expert, who asked not to be named, said yesterday.
"But Ford has had to bundle it up with Jaguar to make the sale of Jaguar, which it probably really does want to ditch, more attractive. The question is is whether or not these latest sales figures will make Ford think again about a sale.
"The glib answer is yes - but in reality the situation is much more complicated than that and ultimately they may just serve to make Land Rover and Jaguar a more attractive proposition."