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Range Rover's market share has grown by almost 10 to 15 per cent during the first nine months this year (SUPPLIED)
Land Rover is increasing production of its latest models following massive demand from the Middle East and Asia, said a senior official.
John Edwards, Global Brand Director at Land Rover said the company’s share has grown by almost 10 to 15 per cent during the first nine months this year while sales in China percentage witnessed a massive increase of 150 per cent.
“The Middle East market has bounced back by 10 to 15 per cent during the last nine months. Importantly we have grown at about 30 per cent globally year on year. We have just taken on 1,500 new employees to help run faster the launch of our new models. China is exploding for us and has grown by 150 per cent. The last two years have been a roller-coaster ride for us. Two years ago it was a difficult place to be but we have bounced back pretty quickly,” said Edwards.
“I don’t think there is a region in the world where we have increased our sales year on year, and consequently every single dealer I meet is crying out for more production and asking for more cars. We cannot increase our production fast enough,” he added.
Commenting on new opportunities emerging out of the region he said, “Qatar getting the hosting rights for 2022 soccer world cup would create new opportunities. The opportunities even leading up to the world cup with the infrastructure development and the construction of new stadiums will create additional opportunities.”
When asked about plans to open new assembly units in emerging markets, he said, “Our prime strategy is to keep UK factories humming and really optimize the production capabilities there. Clearly we constantly look at other manufacturing operations for more local assembly and India is an obvious market to consider given our ownership with Tata Motors and China is another market to look at. The Middle East is a huge market and we will continue to focus very heavily on this market.”
Land Rover launched Evoque which comes with a 240hp 2.0-litre turbo petrol and a 2.2-litre turbo diesel engines.
The price range in Europe is fixed at 30,000 pounds and about $40,000 in the US. “That is the sort of price range we are looking at in the Middle East region although we have not specifically decided as yet,” he added.
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