Land Rover Monthly August 2020

I don’t care if a Land Rover is less reliable than a Toyota. It’s way cooler and holds its value better. That is not why I drive one. My Defender is an extension of me. Most Land Rover owners and drivers are generally good people. Allow me to illustrate this with a true recent story at a time when the world is full of tension and uncertainty. A good friend of mine has moved his whole business to ‘working from home on a permanent basis’, thereby saving millions in rent and keeping workers in employment. The other day he took his Defender 110 Td5 to go and fetch some stuff from the old office so that he could set up a proper work space at home for himself. After loading…

RANGE ROVER celebrates half a century of design and engineering excellence with a special edition Range Rover Fifty model. Limited to 1970 units globally to mark its birth year options include three heritage colours from Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations. Over its 50-year lifespan, the Range Rover has achieved many world firsts and completed numerous impressive feats. It was the first SUV to feature a permanent 4WD system when it was launched, and in 1989 was the world’s first 4x4 to be fitted with ABS anti-lock brakes. Later in 1992 it became the world’s first 4x4 to be fitted with electronic traction control (ETC) and automatic electronic air suspension to help it feel more refined both on and off-road. In 2012, the latest-generation Range Rover became the world’s first SUV…

JAGUAR Land Rover’s Special Vehicle Operations division sold more than 9500 high-performance and luxury SV products in 2019-20 financial year – up an impressive 64 per cent compared to the previous year. The growth was across all seven SV vehicles, including the long-wheelbase Range Rover SVAutobiography and the more driver-focused Dynamic version. The 567hp Sport SVR remains the best-selling model, while the launch of the Range Rover Velar SVAutobiography Dynamic – which only saw deliveries starting in 2019 – made significant contributions to the overall numbers. The increase in retail sales has been supported by the roll-out of SV Specialist Centres in key markets and the establishment of dedicated SV areas at retailers, which are trained to meet the exacting needs of a typical SV customer and the premium service…

Conservation is as much about people as it is wildlife. As COVID-19 lockdown continues, thousands of people living in impoverished African rural communities adjacent to game reserves have lost their jobs and income, and food insecurity is a growing crisis. Working together to show that the conservation sector cares, Nkombe Rhino NPC, the African Conservation Trust, Project Rhino, Kingsley Holgate (who invariably added massive value to the project) and other partners (like former international rugby player Joe Pietersen and famous cricketer Kyle Abbot) pooled their resources and efforts to help feed families, rangers and wildlife communities across South Africa. A movement called FRWC was officially formed and each of the team members put bucks on the table and within a week the first 1.5 tonne load, equal to 15,000 meals…

AS we’ve seen over the past few issues, dedicated charity volunteers have been travelling thousands of miles in their Land Rovers to deliver vital supplies, and the Bedfordshire & Cambridgeshire 4X4 Response (BC4X4R) charity are no different. In fact, it is believed that they are the busiest group in the whole 4x4 Response UK network. As of May 24, BC4X4R had covered over 23,000 miles, delivering emergency stocks and PPE to hospitals, doctors, care homes and pharmacies. They also completed welfare checks on vulnerable people, delivered food parcels and collected urgent drugs from Nottingham for ventilators at Luton & Dunstable Hospital. During the COVID-19 outbreak, 253 members (some more than once) have been deployed together with 149 vehicles (again, some more than once) as they’ve responded to 120 requests for…

TO date (June 6) 12,500 miles have been covered by volunteers from the Devon and Cornwall 4x4 Response group (DC4x4R) delivering over half a million items of PPE and carrying out almost 250 tasks for Devon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and Voluteer Cornwall during the crisis. This has been the largest and longest deployment the group has ever undertaken and is still ongoing. The group, which has approaching 90 members across Devon and Cornwall, has been working with the Local Resilience Forums and Devon and Cornwall Police to provide logistical support to frontline NHS sites and carers of vulnerable adults and children across the two counties. None of this would have been possible without the dedication of the Groups Control Team of ten controllers who have used their local knowledge…