Best Practice: Launch of the Freelander

Abstract

Buyers, and potential buyers, of four-wheel-drive vehicles are, of course, a niche market. This is less obvious than it was in the distant days when the first Land Rover rolled off the production lines, its only competitor that most unforgiving and indestructible of vehicles the US Army wartime surplus Jeep, and its only obvious civilian market farmers and beach bums. There are fewer soldiers and farmers today (and more beach bums) but the market for the four-wheel-drive vehicle has expanded enormously — proportionately beyond even the growth of the total car market — transforming it from a rural workhorse into an urban lifestyle accessory.