The Motoring World
Strong half year performances in all regions with Asia Pacific up 26% and China, UK, US and Overseas regions all showing double digit growth. Commenting on the half year performance Phil Popham, Jaguar Land Rover Group Sales Operations Director said 鈥淚t is very encouraging to see both our Jaguar and Land Rover brands delivering strong sales performances across our 178 markets. New model introductions have been incredibly well received with the all-new Range Rover retailing more than 22,000 units since launch. 鈥淭he F-TYPE which received a rapturous reception from media during its global launch last month is off to an excellent start with new customers and will go on sale in China this month鈥? China has seen Jaguar sales surge towards 8,000 units, surpassing the 2012 full year total in the first half of the year. 1,000 F-TYPE sports cars sold in June alone. XF and XF Sportbrake sales increasing on the appeal of new powertrains and All Wheel Drive. Growth continues across Asia Pacific and Overseas, with exceptional sales performance in markets like Brazil, Russia, South Africa and India. Approaching 61,000 Range Rover Evoque vehicles sold globally this year. In June, Land Rover sold 27,165 vehicles up 2% despite the run out of Range Rover Sport.
Torque, meanwhile, is intelligently distributed between the front axle and each of the rear wheels. The new Discovery Sport can also switch between AWD and 2WD mode in under 400 milliseconds, for greater efficiency. This, combined with a MacPherson front suspension, makes for a comfortable driving experience. We started our drive on small and twisty town streets. The 9-speed can get a little agitated when searching for the right gear, but once through the travails of city traffic, the Discovery Sport starts to relax and show off its full potential out on the open road. Hitting the highway means time to step on the gas. The car does 0-60mph in about seven seconds, and while it doesn鈥檛 necessarily feel like an aggressive speed demon, it has plenty of power and hummed along smoothly in a manner worthy of a Sade playlist. Montserrat mountain isn鈥檛 short on demanding curves, but the Discovery Sport proved sure-footed, with communication of grip and balance coming through strong through the steering. Speaking of which, an accurate wheel with little play proved welcome when there鈥檚 a wall of rock on one side, oncoming cars, and then a precipitous cliff on the other.
Maybe it鈥檚 just a British thing, but the new Land Rovers and Range Rovers are not reliable at all. Is There Real Proof? Well, I wouldn鈥檛 just tell you that the new Range Rovers and Land Rovers are unreliable without backing it up. From 2007 to 2016 the Range Rover鈥檚 best score from JD Power Associates regarding reliability was a 3/5, or 6/10. Out of those 9 years of ratings, 8 of them were 2.5/5 or less than that. So basically for 8 out of the last 9 years, it has scored below average in terms of reliability. Further investigation will show that the Land Rover brand has around 179 problems per 100 vehicles. The only companies worse than that are Dodge and Mini. Funny enough its off-road competitor Jeep is basically just as bad at 178 problems per 100 vehicles. Are They Worth It? Whether or not they are worth it is a very difficult question to answer. This is because everybody views the Land Rover brand differently. In my opinion, the older Land Rovers are absolutely worth it. They are nicer than most modern cars, but are still solid-axle and can take a beating off-road. I loved my Discovery II before the engine exploded, it was hands down the nicest vehicle I鈥檝e ever owned. Newer Land Rover and Range Rovers aren鈥檛 worth it. You might get a ton of cool luxury features, but those features aren鈥檛 worth the cost of maintenance and repairs of a newer Land Rover.
Despite the moaning of purists, Porsche has developed a pair of SUVs which are among the most popular sporty versions of the niche. Most importantly, the popularity of the German automaker鈥檚 utility vehicles means more funds to develop the company鈥檚 high performance fleet. More money means more toys. The media visit to the Art of the Performance Tour was unique in that we visited the event alongside actual consumer guests, rather than being sent off on our own. It was great fun seeing somebody other than the usual, jaded auto journalist types at an event, because there was actual excitement in the eyes of many participants! The herd of guests leave the presentation space and are brought to an area with a collection of industrial looking ramps and platforms have been erected and loaded into the waiting Land Rover Discovery SUVs. Instructors from Land Rover Canada鈥檚 Off Road Experience centre in Montebello, Quebec, then take the participants for the most hair-raising ride that they are ever likely to have at 2 km/h.
