Land Rover North America, Inc.

BACKGROUND ANALYSIS:

Charles Hughes, president and CEO of Land Rover North America, Inc., needs to determine how to best position the new Land Rover Discovery in the US market. The main items that need to be taken into consideration are the role of Discovery vs. other models in the Land Rover line, the strength’s and weaknesses of Land Rover, and strong competition from Japan who were the most well known brand in the U.S. 4x4 leisure market.

The history of the Land Rover Brand is an important factor to look into when determining how the Discovery vehicle should be positioned in North America. The Land Rover was first developed in England as the first 4WD utility vehicle built for the outdoors. The car was not luxorious but the actual functional utility is what gave the Land Rover its strong image in Third World countries where this was extremely valuable. In response to the change in needs of its customers The Range Rover was built. This vehicle was developed as having the strength and toughness of the Land Rover but had the look of luxury and comfort in which the original Land Rover vehicle did not have. With the launch of these two products The Land Rover Brand gained a vast amount of customers that became loyal to the corporate brand’s main core values which were “individualism, adventure, and freedom.”

Due to the Japanese discovery of the “4x4 Leisure market” competition grew fierce for Land Rover and Third World Markets sales dropped. To regain the market share Land Rover would need to develop a new vehicle that would focus on the two types of customers in this market and regain the sales lost to its Japanese competitors. The vehicle that Land Rover built was the Discovery. The Discovery was developed based on extensive research on customer needs, and by examining weaknesses of the Japanese products. Existing Japanese SUV’s had more of a “truck” look and management wanted to focus on giving the Discovery a more “car-like” feeling. The Japanese SUV’s also lacked a good interior design in which Land Rover sought to improve in on The Discovery. Although improvements on interior design and product features were important, geographic expansion into the US was vital to be considered a competing brand in the SUV market. The SUV industry in North America was becoming increasingly competitive, “from over 30 SUV models, their prices ranging from $10,000 to $60,000” (exibit 9). Market leaders were Jeep and Ford in the US. Jeep was known as the American standard for SUV just as the Land Rover was in the UK.

RECOMMENDATION:

My recommendation for Land rover North America would be to position the Discovery as the “4x4 family car” focusing on its two main target markets: Young childless adults, and Family buyers; Thus maintain the image of the Land Rover brand and its key core marketing values. Market research is key to making the product meet its customer needs. Consumer Perceptions of the Major SUV brands needs to be thoroughly analyzed so that the Discovery vehicle can excel in its design on the areas in which the other brands are perceived as weak.

Although the price of the Discovery is high compared to its Japanese competitors it needs to remain at this level as long as the quality, safety, performance, comfort, and brand image remains strong.

Advertising needs to be more focused on values of Discovery which were “family, fun, freedom safety and adventure”. More tv advertisements showing the Land Rover as a Family car, that is safe, fun and adventurous. Advertising on tv would help get the image out there more quickly in the US market and would be essential in performing brand awareness.

As the core values for Discovery were determined those values needed to be placed on the Land Rover Corporation as a whole. Setting these core values for the organization would make the brand stand out and can lead to an emotional attachment to Land Rover brand for many consumers. Spreading the core values and instilling these values internally within the organization is equally as important in strengthening pride within the comany. Having all members of an organization understand the vision of the corporation and support all future products makes Land Rover that much of a stronger unified Brand.

Building a variety of Land Rover Centre’s throughout the US I believe would help deliver Land Rover’s vision to the public. These Centre’s would strengthen the brand in which personnel would be trained on the core values of the company and help train the public within these Centre’s.

BASIS FOR RECOMMENDATION:

The reason I chose the recommendation to position the Discovery Vehicle as a Family centered vehicle