At Lunch with the FM - Jamie Carr with Land Rover SA MD Moira Moses at Wangthai, Sandton Square

Land Rover stands alongside the Mini as one of the truly iconic brands of the British motoring industry. Born in 1948 during the austere days of rationing after World War 2, it rapidly became part of the fabric of rural life.

Standard features included taciturn drivers in hairy tweed, half a dozen assorted pigs in the back, and a two-tone paint job of wet mud on a base of dry mud. Refinement sneaked in with the introduction of padded front seats in 1966, followed by the Range Rover in 1970, the Discovery in 1989 and, most recently, the Freelander.

Perhaps it is fitting that Land Rover SA also decided to veer away from the hairy farmer route in appointing Moira Moses as its MD. Moses is something of an all-terrain model herself, every bit as much at home on the terrace of Wangthai as she is pursuing her husband and his rogue Viszla into the thick stuff after an errant guinea fowl.

Moses joined BMW in 1994, the year the company bought the Rover Group. From a background in sales and marketing, she moved across to head Land Rover in 1999, with a particular brief to oversee the integration of Land Rover into BMW's systems. So it was something of a surprise in March 2000 to discover that BMW had sold Land Rover to Ford. Moses was offered the position of sales director of BMW in the UK, but chose instead to stay with Land Rover and with SA.

Her passion for Land Rover shines through the moment she mentions the brand. "Did you know that an estimated 70% of all Land Rovers ever made are still on the road? Some people are just born with the green in their veins."

Pausing only to munch some calamari in tamarind sauce, surely as noble an end as a humble squid could ever aspire to, she describes how to maintain this fanatical loyalty that runs as strongly among Land Rover's customers as its employees. "We consciously boost the lifestyle marketing of the brand. We run an adventure programme, where groups of Land Rover owners will go to the wildest corners of the world for a real 4x4 experience. We organise competitions with teams from each dealership. And the Land Rover Experience offers training in effective and responsible off-road driving."

But in the end it all boils down to the cars. The Land Rover range of today is so far from its utilitarian origins that Moses says even Defenders are being bought in increasing numbers for day-to-day urban use. "A Discovery offers all the same luxury features as a similarly priced sedan, with the benefits of the elevated driving position, and the ability to do some serious off-roading if you want," she says.

She adds that a large percentage of second-hand Land Rovers today have never seen any real off-road action, which is a measure of the marque's success in attracting customers in Guccis rather than gumboots.

Land Rover has shown amazing growth in SA over the past five years. From total sales of about 800 units in 1995, it moved 5 000 last year, and turnover topped R1bn for the first time. Moses says new owner Ford will put global muscle behind its stable of luxury vehicle brands. "Ford's Premier Auto Group includes Jaguar, Volvo, Aston Martin, Land Rover and Lincoln. The strategy is to keep the integrity of each brand, but to move to combined dealerships where appropriate and to share some back-office functions."

The most important change she has made since taking over the reins at Land Rover is to instil a "fanatical commitment to excellent service. Dealers were traditionally rewarded on volume rather than service, and we have put systems in place to turn this around. We have seen a huge improvement in our customer satisfaction statistics already."

Land Rover's commitment to SA extends to its sponsorship with the Endangered Wildlife Trust of a programme to save the wild dog, the second-most endangered mammal in Africa after the Ethiopian wolf. The wild dog needs enormous ranges of territory, which, combined with hunting, has left it in isolated pockets. Land Rover's sponsorship pays for the monitoring of these populations and an inter-breeding programme to widen the gene pool.

As the only woman MD in a strongly male-dominated industry, Moses admits there was some spluttering into the Klipdrift when she was appointed. "But it doesn't take long to win respect as long as you can perform."

By this stage of proceedings my "angry duck" is performing strongly, intent on taking the lining of my throat with it to Valhalla as a last act of defiance, but a steadying Coke soon brings the faculties back under control. The Moses household is no stranger to a hot curry, with Moses' husband Mark winning the Curry Cup, the world's top amateur curry cooking competition late last year in between flying 747s for SAA.

Moses drives a Range Rover, and Mark's double-cab Defender is rarely missing when two or three shotguns are gathered together. No doubt their two children will also be supporting the brand the moment their feet can reach the pedals. With Ford behind it and the Clan Moses to the fore, Land Rover looks set fair for the millennium.

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South Africa's Land Rover dealers - plus a few wannabees seeking the world's most prestigious 4x4 franchise - have been meeting in George this week.

Their main objective was to see the new 2001 Freelander, which could generate hundreds of millions of rands for them over the next year. Already many Land Rover dealers have seen their sales double as a result of Freelander - and although the new model looks much the same, it is substantially improved, particularly with new V6 and turbo-diesel engine options.

It is adding further incentives in the current jockeying for position for dealer franchises in the shake-up of the distribution network now that Land Rover SA has fallen out of BMW's clutches and becomes part of Ford's stable of prestige brands.

That could result in some of the BMW dealers who got the Land Rover business under the old regime losing it - perhaps to some of the dedicated off-road entrepreneurs who helped to establish the Land Rover brand in South Africa but were left out under BMW's local strategies.

Some Jaguar dealers may be awarded Land Rover franchises to expand and balance their model mix offerings - perhaps even selling the Big Cats off the same showroom floor as the new generation 4x4s in a linked British motoring heritage branding strategy.

Even some established Ford dealers - particularly those in rural areas - may now get a crack at a Land Rover franchise to compensate for losing Pajero to DaimlerChrysler South Africa under the new global realignment of Mitsubishi. But if any of them are successful, they can expect to face strict rules to differentiate clearly between their volume Ford and their specialist Land Rover sales operations, while taking full advantage of back office synergies to cut costs and boost profits.

This big upheaval in South Africa's retail motor business is a tough job being orchestrated by a woman - Land Rover's local CEO Moira Moses. She plans to know by the end of 2000 how she will shuffle and expand the existing dealer network from 36 to 39 outlets. This will include new outlets in Midrand, Uitenhage and Pretoria, and dealerships that reflect the Land Rover Centre concept in the US with a range of products and services appealing to 4x4 enthusiasts.

"By the end of this year we will have a clear indication of who will be representing us in which areas," she says. "We have had an enormous number of people wanting the Land Rover franchise."

Although a number of Ford dealers are keen, they will not automatically qualify to get the Land Rover franchise to replace Pajero. Key to the corporate strategy globally as well as in South Africa is to retain the independence of the Land Rover brand within the Ford "family".

"We want to reduce our reliance on BMW as soon as possible," says Moses. "Certain BMW dealers will have to choose between the brands. "

There appear to be about seven dealers holding both BMW and Land Rover franchises who are applying to retain Land Rover. Moses says that consideration is being given to the large investments they may have made in the off-road franchise. However, there were also dealers who lost the franchise when BMW took it over and who needed to be considered now.

"We will be doing what is best for the customers and for the brand," Moses emphasises.

She sees many synergies between Land Rover and the other Ford Premier Automotive Group brands, particularly Jaguar, in areas where the preferred stand-alone dealerships are not viable or practical.

"In some rural areas we might join forces with local Ford dealers," she says.

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A strong argument from Land Rover South Africa that it should become a global supplier of Defenders is now on the table in front of Ford and Land Rover executives as they review future model and manufacturing strategies.

BMW is continuing for the time being to assemble Defenders at its Rosslyn plant near Pretoria in small quantities for the South African and some other sub-Saharan Africa markets.

But is has long been speculated in both the UK and South Africa that as it becomes increasingly less cost-efficient to make the direct descendant of the traditional 4x4 icon in Britain, Defender assembly will move to South Africa.

"There is a strong argument for building it here," confirms Land Rover SA managing director Moira Moses. "We hope in the medium term to transfer production to Silverton under Ford and have submitted a business plan for this to the UK."

Land Rover's new Director for Rest of World and National Sales Company Operations Timothy Tucker says that Ford intends that the Defender will eventually be re-engineered to compete in the 4x4 leisure market as well as continue in its traditional serious off-road roles. But he does not see it becoming a volume seller in North America, where the main focus is being put on the new Freelander SUV.

Range Rover will continue to be developed as the flagship, competing directly with luxury cars, Tucker said.

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By Tony Koenderman

The Land Rover Defender Pickup, the original vehicle in the range, is not a glamorous vehicle compared with the luxury 4x4s bought by stockbrokers and advertising men for urban display or leisure adventuring. Things weren't made any easier by the 15% decline in the 4x4 new-vehicle market in 1998. The "utility" subcategory where the Defender is positioned declined by 3,5%. The other subcategories are leisure, luxury and executive.

With five variants, the Defender ranked third in the sub-category, with a 16% market share, behind Toyota Hilux (37%) and Isuzu (20%). Other competitors are Nissan, Mazda, Ford and Mitsubishi Colt. There had been no marketing communication for the Defender Pickup, while competitors were spending about R20m on advertising. The Defender, as a result, had a build-up of stocks and there was no clear image of the Defender as an individual model. The challenge was specific: to move 100 vehicles a month from June to October without substitution taking place between Land Rover products.

The decision was made to reposition the vehicle as a robust, durable workhorse, and to use it as the ultimate anchor of the Land Rover brand. Customers had to be attracted into dealerships, and dealers' interest in the vehicle had to be re-energised. The target market is distinct: no-nonsense men (farmers) who use the vehicle for rough work. They have no aspirations to the Sandton or adventure market segments. But those up-market groups do have deep-rooted respect for the workhorse type. Therefore, building an image for the Defender could work well in the minds of the overall Land Rover market.

The campaign adopted a two-pronged approach: brand-building on the back of the slogan, "The best 4x4xFAR", and tactical affordability, "We've reduced your payload. Now more affordable than ever before". The budget for the five-month campaign was only R650 000, just over 1% of the total adspend of the 4x4 category for the year. The campaign had an immediate impact. For the five months, sales were up 66%. But the effect outlasted the two-month affordable offer, so that sales in November-December were 42% up on the same period of 1997. Over the full year, Defender sales were 36% ahead of 1997, though the category was in decline.

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LRSA reaction courtesy Aubrey Moore

The price reductions in the UK are not only applicable to Land Rovers. Other
manufacturers have also embarked on the same move. The aim is to reduce the
price differences between the UK and other EU markets.

In South Africa Discovery prices compare very favourably with their direct
competitors. For example a Discovery Td5 ES a/t retail price is R359k,
whereas a Prado VX TD a/t is R398k (and Discovery is spec'd higher than
Prado!). Added to this fact is that import duties are over 40%. So
theoretically, Discovery prices in SA should be a lot higher. We are in a
fortunate position of being able to offset our duty bill to a large degree
due to the amount of export credits we have.

As such, we will not be reducing our prices.

Regards

Julian Lea
Product Manager