Naming a vehicle is a much more complex process than it seems. Generally, the definition of a certain nomenclature requires several months of market study, users, several passes through the advertising and communication offices and a long etcetera. All this to define the name of a particular model, now imagine what it must be to name a brand.
This process is being carried out by Jaguar Land Rover (today owned by India’s Tata Motors) where they announced that will stop using the legendary Land Rover name on their vehicles. Now the brand will be called JLR (that’s right, an acronym for Jaguar Land Rover) and it will focus on four brands: Range Rover, Defender, Discovery and Jaguar.
Gerry McGovern, CCO of now JLR, stated: “The reality is that Range Rover is a brand, as is Defender. Customers say they have a Range Rover, not a Land Rover. In the luxury segment you need absolute clarity and models like “Land Rover Range Rover SV Autobiography” does not turn out well. We love the Land Rover name, but it doesn’t have as much value as the Range Rover, and the Defender has grown enormously.”
JLR’s idea is to position itself as a benchmark luxury brand in the electric vehicle market by 2030, and for that they felt it was better to simplify things. However, JLR’s work does not only stop at simplifying his name, he also announced that will modify its Halewood factory to make only electric vehicles there under the EMA modular platform, which will also evolve in the short term.
Does Land Rover disappear as a name forever?
Although JLR declares that it will no longer use that name for its products, the name will not disappear and will probably be used for a new model within one of the defined sub-brands or will remain in the portfolio for future use. JLR is in full repositioning of each of its sub-brandsand there are previously single-model names like Discovery that will now be used to define individual brands with their own model lines.
Among these brands we find Jaguar, to be redefined as a modern luxury brand with a distinctive design approachwhile Range Rover will be the name that future luxury SUVs will carry. Probably everything with the name Defender will be destined for the more off-road facet, with electric off-road vehicles.
According to JLR, each of these brands will be independent, and JLR will remain the unifying group. This will surely vary in each market, since there are countries where the full range is offered and others where only a few models arrive.
