Buyers Say: Come On Over, Land Rover : Transportation: The British off-road vehicles sell well in O.C., where some regard them as status symbols, others as family vehicles.
MISSION VIEJO — Why does any Southern Californian need a car like the Range Rover? These are the expensive British-made, four-wheel-drive vehicles of choice for those who require transport across deserts and through jungles. The answer, according to Range Rover owner Francois Badeau, is: They don’t.
“The excuse I give people is that if there is an earthquake I will be able to get to where I need to go,” Badeau said. Truth is, the Newport Beach resident bought his $50,000 Range Rover for a familiar Orange County motivation: It’s a status symbol.
“It has all the prestige and comfort of a luxury automobile but is less expensive than a top-of-the-line Mercedes-Benz or BMW,” he said.
Necessary or not, vehicles by Land Rover, the company that makes the Range Rover brand of sport utility vehicle, are opening the checkbooks of more and more Orange County residents. Land Rover North America, headquartered in Lanham, Md., said that U.S. sales have reached 5,640 vehicles this year, compared with 4,907 in all of 1993. If that pace continues, 1994 sales might triple last year’s.
“The numbers would have been much higher had more vehicles been available,” said company spokeswoman Nancy Rader.
The Rovers’ growing popularity in Orange County and nationwide is the result of several factors. Auto experts say the combination of Orange County’s demographics and the introduction of a new Land Rover vehicle, called Discovery, is pushing sales.
“They can’t produce them fast enough to keep up with demand,” said Sterling Bantle, sales manager of Bauer Jaguar and Range Rover in Anaheim. The popularity of Discovery is linked to its lower price, he said. Discovery, which starts at $29,600, is designed to compete with the fully loaded versions of Jeep Grand Cherokee and Ford Explorer.
But Frank Robnett, sales manager of Jeep-Eagle of Santa Ana, discounted the effect the new competition is having on the market. “Sales are not affected one bit,” said Robnett, adding that a basic Grand Cherokee can be purchased for as low as $23,000.
Land Rover now sells three vehicles in the United States: the Land Rover Discovery, the $52,500 Range Rover County LWB (which stands for long wheel base) and the Land Rover Defender 90, an open-air, off-road vehicle that starts at $27,900 (top optional).
The company says the average Range Rover buyer has a household income of more than $225,000 a year, while Discovery owners average about $125,000 a year.
Discovery has added appeal because many consider it a family vehicle, said Ken McGraw, owner of Land Rover of Mission Viejo. Like a minivan or station wagon, Discovery seats seven and has dual air bags. The introduction of family-friendly Discovery to Orange County has nearly tripled sales of Land Rovers in the area, McGraw said.
Orange County has always provided a good market for high-end import cars, said Chris Cedergren, an auto-industry consultant with AutoPacific Group Inc. in Thousand Oaks. Affluent drivers in Orange County tend to be younger, added Cedergren, and they prefer sport utility vehicles to the sedans their parents drive.
Now a division of BMW, the manufacturer is trying to broaden the appeal of its vehicles by opening new dealerships it calls Land Rover Centres. They sell new Rovers and used sport utility vehicles of any brand. And the first one in California is McGraw’s Land Rover of Mission Viejo.
Each center will have a course where customers can learn off-road driving. They will also have “adventure centers” where owners and potential owners can arrange off-road trips. Customers will even be able to purchase a variety of gear like driving gloves and shoes.
Land Rover hopes the novelty of the Land Rover Centres will further popularize the vehicles, which for nearly 50 years have been almost standard equipment for back-country expeditions and safaris in remote areas of Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
The Land Rover line was modeled after World War II military vehicles and built to endure jungle treks and safaris. Perhaps with the 1970 debut of the luxury Range Rover, its rugged, hearty makeup was displaced by its image as the sport utility vehicle of the rich and famous.
